Characters Watch the Adventures-HTTYD
by Spyrite Vesta
Summary: Hiccup was just trying to get ready for her final exam, when suddenly she and all of Berk are transported to a mysterious place so that they can watch all of her interactions with Toothless! Odin's Beard, what has she gotten herself into! Fem!Hiccup Human!Toothless Watching the movie fic
1. Prequel

**Hey guys! So, I hope you like my slightly different version of an amazing story! Enjoy the show!**

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Hiccup grinned, darting behind a large rock and huddling down, stuffing her hand against her mouth in an unsuccessful attempt to smother a laugh. From the other side of the rock she heard a deep chuckle and tried to make herself smaller, which wasn't that hard really, given her current size and stature. Suddenly a shadow appeared over her head and she shrieked in surprise as a large from collided with her own, black forepaws pushing her down into the grass.

The strong form of a Night Fury hovered over her, an extremely smug look on its face as it bent down licked the fallen girl's face cheekily, smiling a large gummy smile as she huffed angrily.

"Hey! No fair! Dragon form is cheating, Aedus!" Hiccup protested, even though both of them knew that wasn't true, considering that the only two rules were to count to thirty and once the other person was found, they were the seeker. Hiccup was really just annoyed with the self-satisfied look that currently adorned the dragon's face. She flailed her limbs around and tried to wiggle out of the Night Fury's firm grip for a moment, before realizing it was pointless and turning to look up at the dragon with a pout.

Said Night Fury just thought that no one had ever had a more adorable pout than the one gracing the face of the girl underneath him. Hiccup felt the strong hold around her arms loosen as the sharp claws and hard scales were replaced by tanned human skin, as dragon melted into man. Aedus chuckled, dark locks of hair falling into his jade eyes as he smiled down at his beloved, who just crossed her arms now that she was able to, and stuck her bottom lip farther out.

"I'm sorry, mi luna las strellas," Aedus apologized, the soft sound of his affectionate name for her rolling off his tongue like honey, with the strange accent all the dragons had making it sound slightly like a purr. (My moon and stars) Hiccup just huffed, determined to not let him off that easily, looking at everything except him; which was slightly hard considering their position.

Smiling fondly at his mate's stubbornness, Aedus leaned in closer, letting his breath wash over her exposed neck. Hiccup immediately relaxed, eyelashes fluttering with every wave of warm air her love sent over her skin. Lifting up from her neck, Aedus looked into her happy emerald eyes and kissed her softly.

"I love you, mi sol el cielo," Hiccup whispered softly, smiling up at the boy on top of her as she tangled her hands in his thick strands of dark hair.

"I shall love you till the sun shines at night and the stars fade into nothing," Aedus promised her, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of her nose as he held her in place with a stare that was filled with all the love and devotion he felt for her.

"And forever after that," Hiccup agreed, small hands cupping his chin in her hands, fingers smoothing along strong cheekbones, closing her eyes and sighing in happiness as Aedus placed soft kisses along her cheeks and nose, each one brushing softer than a feather.

"What are you doing?" The small Viking asked softly, eyes slowly opening and rosy lips quirking up into a soft smile after a particularly affectionate kiss to the nose.

"I'm kissing each of your freckles," Aedus declared, bestowing twin kisses on each of her cheeks.

"When I was only a little girl, Gobber told me that Mom used to say they were the suns kisses," Hiccup whispered, thinking back to one of the many discussions Gobber had given her where she had asked hundreds of questions about her mom, and Gobber tried his best to answer them.

"Then I am beyond jealous of the sun that it has been allowed to kiss you so many times," he murmured back, the corners of his lips tilting up slightly as she laughed delightedly. Once again Aedus internally thanked all the gods he could for allowing him the love of the heavenly creature beneath him.

"But you know, its impossible to kiss all my freckles," Hiccup told him matter-of-factly, making Aedus raised an eyebrow, smirking at the challenge.

"Are you sure, because eventually I'm going to do it," he replied back, pressing another kiss on her cheek.

"Well maybe in a few years, but my freckles aren't just on my face. You realize that, right?" Hiccup looked up at him, a slight blush staining her face. Looking up at the tomato-red dragon, Hiccup giggled and leaned up to kiss him. For all of his suggestive comments, Aedus got really shy whenever Hiccup brought up the subject. But they had both agreed to wait until they were officially mated or officially married; the former option being more likely, since Hiccup doubted her dad would let her marry a dragon if he had any say in the matter. Sighing at the thought of her dad, Hiccup closed her eyes as she remembered what came tomorrow.

"Tomorrow is the final test; it's either me or Astrid. It should be her, I don't want to kill a dragon," Hiccup whispered bitterly. Aedus let himself down so he was laid out beside her, the sun just starting to set, covering the cove with a golden glow. Turning his head to gaze at Hiccup, his breath caught in his throat.

She was laying peacefully in the grass, the long blades blending into her green dress, making it seem like she had suddenly grown from the earth, like a flower. Her eyes were alight with happiness and peace, the gold flecks standing out against the emerald gems as the sunset reflected off them. Soft pink lips were curved into a gentle smile beneath an elegantly sloped nose, freckles dusted across her high cheekbones and nose. Her skin was not tanned like many other Vikings, but a warm cream color, wrapped around a small but agile frame of curves and slopes with a hidden strength. Long red curls draped out behind her head like a halo, the golden streaks through it catching the sun's final light, setting her being aflame.

"Beautiful," the dragon whispered in awe, looking at the now blushing angel laying next to him, before leaning over to kiss her forehead. "You'll be fine, my love. No matter what happens, I will love and protect you with all the strength in my body," Aedus promised, drawing her body closer to his own muscular frame and nuzzling her exposed throat in a primal gesture of comfort.

"I don't want it, Aedus. I've spent my entire life trying to please everyone else. Always trying to be a better fighter, better daughter, better apprentice, just... better. Yet everything I do seems to make everyone hate me even more. I've had enough of living my life for them; I want to live it for me," Hiccup lamented, pressing her forehead against his and delighting at the warmth his body held, pressing flush against him so she could absorb the heat he gave off.

"Do whatever you must, mi luna las strellas. I shall go wherever you go; as long as it makes you happy I shall make it happen. And promise me that you will never try to be 'better' again. Both humans and dragons live lives far too short to determine what true perfection is, but to me, I think you're the closest one yet. Even with all of your oddities, you shine with an inner light that reflects all of the wonderful things about you; the compassion that tamed a beast, the intelligence that allowed a downed dragon to fly, and the strength that made me fall in love with you. Not to mention your cute stubbornness," Aedus praised, running his fingers through her hair, tugging on a curl till it reached the dip of her lower back, the normal place in which it rested, before letting it join its fellows.

Hiccup smiled happily, fingers digging into the soft earth beneath her fingers. She felt the soft humming energy in the earth react to her own energy's presence before a flowery vine began growing along her palm winding across her small hand, and twining Aedus's larger, calloused fingers with hers, the flowers on the vine slowly blooming.

Glancing up at the darkening sky, Hiccup watched as the last rays of the sun lingered, the cove caught in a battle between the impending night and the dying day. The stars twinkled high in the sky, the final rays of the sun at last giving up and fading away, as the night came at last. Slowly, fireflies and Glowtrumps emerged dancing through the cove, illuminating it with a pale, mystical light. She saw a Glowtrump fly over her, the small glowing dragons no bigger than hummingbirds, and lazily drawing circles with its light.

Once the vine receded once more and Hiccup and Aedus stood, the dragon shape shifter pulled a flower crown from behind his back, blooming with camellias and carnations, with a blood red rose in the center.

"You made me a flower crown?" Hiccup whispered quietly, her voice filled with love and gratefulness. Aedus nodded, leaning over and gently nestling it among her curls.

"Will you do me the honor of a dance, my lady?" Aedus asked suddenly, bowing low and holding out a hand for her to take. Hiccup laughed and curtsied to him, placing her hand in his.

"Why of course, my love," spinning into a fast waltz, Aedus began whistling a soft tune, Hiccup humming along. Spinning Hiccup into a full spin he let her hand go, and she started whirling around, dancing to Aedus's soft whistle. Tugging her back towards him the two ended the song with Aedus lifting her above him, as if showing her to the heavens.

"I like that song! Where did you learn it again?" Hiccup asked him breathlessly as he set her down, snaking his arms around her waist.

"I learned it from the Dragon Healer. She likes to sing and whistle that song when she's in a particularly nostalgic mood. I just wish I remembered the words... Oh well. I can always ask her next time I fly to the King's nest. I think you and her would get along, you are a lot like her." Here he frowned for a moment, searching Hiccup's face. "Even in looks..."

"Aedus?" Hiccup questioned, wondering what he was thinking about. Shaking his head Aedus gave his mate a smile and kissed her.

"It's nothing, mi luna las strellas. Come on, you need to rest." The two retreated to a corner of the cove covered in moss, and slipped through a small opening behind a boulder. Inside was a cave, which had been set up as a makeshift home.

The cave was quite large despite the small opening leading to it; almost rivalling the size of Hiccup's home in the village if her home had been tipped on it's side. There was a large notch on one of the walls, big enough for Aedus to curl up in dragon form with Hiccup in. At the moment it was lined with warm furs that acted as bedding and a blanket.

There was a small natural hot spring in the corner that was the source of what formed the cave in the first place. Aedus and Hiccup (mainly Aedus) had dug around the point were it let out, created a small pool that acted as both a bath and a heater for the cave. In another corner was clothing for both Hiccup and Aedus, which Hiccup had made for him upon discovering his transforming powers. Thankfully the clothes somehow disappeared into his dragon form, so that every time he changed there wasn't a blushing Hiccup averting her eyes as he tried to put on clothes as quickly as possible (like the first time).

Hiccup grinned, taking off her fur vest, and shoes, leaving her in her thin green dress and brown leggings. Accepting the large woolen shirt Aedus had been wearing before, she buried herself in the warmth, breathing in his scent of smoke and dragon-nip. The shirt was huge on her, covering her dress completely, and Hiccup looked even smaller than usual with it on.

Smiling at him as he backed up to transform, she crawled onto the bed and buried herself in the furs. Her eyes drifted shut slowly, and a few moments later she felt a large form settle behind her, gentle wings wrapping her in warmth as Aedus nudged her further into his grip with his nose, purring contently as she was completely in his grip.

"You're such a kitten," Hiccup whispered sleepily, giggling quietly as Aedus stopped purring suddenly, a disgruntled huff escaping his mouth. "Oh you know I love you for it," she chided, kissing his nose gently before falling asleep happily. Aedus protectively looked around for any danger, before allowing himself to follow her into the realm of dreams.

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As the sun rose the next morning, a strange phenomenon occurred across the island of Berk. A single flash of light eclipsed the island, lighting it up in an unnatural day, as Vikings across Berk disappeared into thin air. The same happened to a young girl in a cave, asleep in the protective clutch of a black dragon.

Aedus woke suddenly, his instincts controlling his body more than his mind. Roaring as he bounded out of the cave looking for his lost mate, he only made it a few steps before a second flash of light appeared, and he disappeared as well. The same light appeared in a volcano leagues across the sea, as hundreds of dragons vanished from their rocky home.

And ancient queen dragon bellowed, her thunderous snarl filling the rocky caverns with her anger. She had already lost her only Night Fury, the powerful creature vanishing from her clutches, and now her soldiers had been taken, stolen under her nose by an unknown force.

Sinking back into the depths of her nest, the queen plotted feeling the approaching trouble, and knowing she had to be ready for it.

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**Hope you guys liked it! Um, I don't own an Update Dragon (yet), but all reviews are appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Sorry about that long wait. This is a pretty big chapter though.**

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Chapter 1

Meanwhile, in a large room an entire village of Vikings was dropped into existence, staring about with savage growls, hands reaching for weapons and drawing back in alarm as they discovered none.

"Hey! Where's my axe!" Astrid exclaimed along with numerous Vikings as they looked for their missing tools.

"You won't find them," a voice echoed around the room, startling the occupants who looked around for the person the voice belonged to.

"Over here," the voice was definitely a girl and the Vikings turned in the direction of the voice, and found a small girl, who looked about 15 standing at the front of the room.

She was pretty with golden curls, oceanic eyes and a lithe figure. She wore a pair of black tights above bare feet, and a jumper that dropped off one small shoulder with the words "You don't like Disney you need to bibbity bobbity back the fuck up out of my life," and a hairband that kept the curls from her eyes proudly proclaimed the word 'fangirl'. The Vikings exchanged puzzled looks, who was this girl, what was Disney, what was a fangirl, and how were they able to understand the odd looking symbols which weren't runes?

"Now can I assume you're the Vikings of Berk, as for who I am… why I am Fallen Down A Rabbit Hole, but you can call me Darcy, and I am the one who brought you here," the girl bowed dramatically and popped back up with a beaming grin.

"Why did you bring us here?" Stoick demanded, pushing his way to the front of the crowd of Vikings and glaring down at the small girl who only scowled right back at him.

"You have a lesson to learn and I don't think you properly learn it in the end, still underestimating the poor girl," Darcy clucked her tongue and wagged her finger in the chief's face, ignoring the shocked looks of the surrounding Vikings.

"What poor girl?" Snotlout queried, stepping forward and visibly checking out the strange girl who shivered.

"Hiccup of course, you lot haven't even realized she's missing yet, some kinsmen you claim to be," Darcy sneered, crossing her arms and tapping her foot as the villagers started to panic, looking around for the small girl.

"You won't find her, she was sleeping when I took her so I thought I would let her rest a while until I have you all settled," Darcy interrupted their panic. Smiling slightly at the fact they had shown they still cared for the girls safety she wave a hand at the room, which morphed; half of the it filling with squishy chairs and couches, all facing a large white screen.

"Sit," she commanded, pointing at the chairs and waiting till they had all taken a seat, rolling her eyes at the failed attempts of Snotlout to not sink into his beanbag. Moving to a free couch and she held out her arms bridal style, Hiccup suddenly appearing in her arms with a flash of the white light that brought them here.

Frowning at how light the girl was Darcy set her on the couch, waking her gently as she did so. The Vikings watched curiously as the smallest of their brood was carried in the strange girl's arms. Stoick noted with some shock that his daughter's hair was loose, it was never loose. She always held back in a plait these days, since curls weren't common around Berk she was always afraid of being made fun of for her hair. Stoick realized with shock, that with her hair loose, she actually looked a lot like Valka.

"Come on Hiccup. Time to wake up," Darcy whispered, the redhead Viking yawning cutely and smoothing back fiery red curls with her sleeve covered hand, unconsciously curling closer to Darcy.

"Aedus?" she mumbled so quietly on Darcy heard and the fangirl struggled to control her coos over the adorable action.

"He's not here Hiccup. Now I need you to wake up, something very important is going to happen that will change your life for the better," Darcy muttered back quickly, moving to stand in front of the room, sending a wink at Hiccup as the small girl finally woke up, looking around in confusion.

"Okay, I brought you here because I am sick of the way you act. I have decided to show you something that will change the way you think. Well, hopefully it will. Your weapons are gone and the next guests that I will be bringing in you will not hurt anyone, I have made sure of it." She walked quickly to where the other side of the room was and pressed her hand against seemingly thin air, a faint shimmer stretched from ceiling to floor and she smiled satisfied.

Closing her eyes to concentrate the other half of the room was suddenly populated with every dragon from the nest and a single night fury. Having had someone already explain what was happening before she brought them, they didn't immediately panic. Respectfully, she nodded to them, receiving various looks of encouragement from the dragon population.

A sudden war cry came from behind the fangirl and she spun around just in time to see Astrid hurtling herself at the dragons only to be sent tumbling back mid-air by an invisible wall. The other Vikings tried to attack the dragons as well, before (after some time) realizing that they couldn't attack the beasts, settled for glaring at the dragons with hate in their eyes, all except Hiccup who was smiling secretly at the dragons. Aedus gave her a gummy smile from his dragon form.

The one who had explained everything to them had said that they couldn't become humans until either the Vikings found out from the 'movie,' (whatever that was) or if he was allowed to interact with his mate. Aedus just wished he could be next to Hiccup again. Breaking out of his thoughts, he looked back at the fangirl just as she began speaking.

"You are all here to see what is called a movie where I come from. It's like a bunch of paintings that can move. This one is called '_How To Train Your Dragon_' and relates to you directly. I was unable to pull you from your home after the events of the movie, due to an annoying interference," here Darcy paused to glare at the ceiling. The Vikings looked up too, but couldn't see anything. "But anyway, because of that I had to take you during the events, and for that I apologise because when you leave here I shall have to wipe your memories. But don't worry, YOU'LL GET THEM BACK ONCE THE EVENTS HAVE PLAYED OUT!" Darcy's voice rose on the last sentence to be heard over the angry shouts that the Vikings were yelling. Hiccup had paled, drawing herself further into the copious amounts of fabric of Aedus's shirt at the name of the movie, finally realising what Darcy was talking about earlier.

"The thing that Blondie here just banged into," Astrid glared at her for the nickname, hand moving to grab her axe before remembering it had been taken. "I call a barrier. If you mean harm to someone on the other side it is impossible to cross; and no you cannot trick it so don't even bother." Cue glares at Snotlout. "You also cannot hurt the people on your side so be warned." Darcy crossed her arms over her chest and gave them all unimpressed looks. Hiccup was still gazing longingly at the other side of the barrier, with a dragon mirroring her expression on the other side.

"Now when this movie begins, I expect you all to watch it and learn from it because I cannot do this a second time. When you talk, it will pause, with a few exceptions… now let's begin!" With that last statement Darcy vanished into thin air with a loud bang and flash of white light, the previously white screen suddenly flaring to life at the same time, startling the Vikings and dragons alike.

Unnoticed by everyone else Darcy appeared on the couch beside Hiccup. "I need you to stay on this side of the barrier until I tell you otherwise. I'm going to stay out of the way for most of this so when you can move I'll make a picture of a night fury appear on the pillow of your couch. Now as you have probably guessed this is about you and Aedus. I'm doing this to help you Hiccup, you deserve recognition for what you've done and what you're still going to do. I am doing this for you… and for your future," Darcy whispered, pressing a quick kiss to the startled redhead's forehead and vanishing once more.

'_Are you alright mi luna y estrellas?' _Aedus's voice echoed through her head and Hiccup belatedly realised she had tapped into the hive, the link on which all dragon's minds existed.

_'Who is this? She smells more of us then she does of the other two legs,' _a Deadly Nadder's voice chimed in.

'_She is the dragon rider, and my mate, Fortuna. Her human name is Hiccup,' _Aedus answered swiftly. The dragons hive grew abuzz with murmurs of wonder, the dragon rider's arrival had been anticipate for centuries, they were prophesied to end the divide between the humans and dragons, bringing the world into a golden age.

_'What is her hidden name? If she is the dragon rider it should have been found when you first touched' _This time it was a Gronckle that spoke up. A hidden name was the soul's name, dragons were given theirs upon birth whereas most humans went their entire lives and never found theirs.

_'Thank you for asking Agnidev. Her name is Fiametta, but it can be shortened to Fia,' _Aedus explained and the dragons nodded in acceptance.

_'Excuse me but is anyone going to be addressing me anytime soon or can I start watching this movie thing?' _Hiccup cut in, the dragons turning nearly in sync to look at the small girl who stared resolutely back, the screen behind her showing a strange human figure resting on the moon.

_'You are linked to the hive?' _a monstrous nightmare asked shocked. _'I am, it happened after I first touched Aedus,' _Hiccup answered. _'Now , any more questions?' _Kai, the Deadly Nadder from the training ring trilled at her, bowing his head in greeting and attempting what amounted to a smile.

_'Shall we be sparring once more Fia? I quite enjoyed our last match.' _Several of the other dragons she had already met, began chiming in their agreements and Hiccup felt a smile tilt her lips upwards without noticing she had done it.

'I'll try and get you out of the cells again when this is finished. I hate that you've been locked up, but unfortunately if I set you free they'll know something's up and just hunt you down again.'

_'Now shall we watch the movie or do you have anything else to ask?' _The dragons shook their heads and Hiccup nodded, turning to stare at the screen, unaware of the weird looks the group of Viking teens were shooting her.

**The screen filled with a large picture of the seas around Berk, the island not yet visible behind the clouds. Hiccups disembodied voice filled the room suddenly.**

"What in Thor's name?" A random Viking wondered, looking between the movie, and Hiccup, whose mouth had stayed closed.

**"This is Berk. It's a few days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death." The island suddenly becomes visible behind the many rock formations in front of it. "It's located solely on the meridian of misery." A wave splashed across the scene and suddenly the camera panned to show one of the hillside fields with a few sheep.**

The Vikings exchanged curious yet uneasy looks. Berk wasn't that bad... was it? Surely Hiccup was just being sarcastic as she usually was. Yet one look at the small teen huddled up on the couch in a shirt that was suspiciously to large confirmed their fears. She wasn't kidding. The dragons glanced at the girl with sympathy, she seemed different to her fellows, especially since she was mated to a night fury.

**"My village. In a word; sturdy, and it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new" A shot of the village is shown, most of the houses have some form of light brightening their windows.**

"Well the buildings wouldn't be so damn new if those stupid beasts just stopped attacking!" A random Viking yelled out and the others shouted their agreements, missing Hiccup rolling her eyes and muttering about the irony of them calling others stupid.

**"We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests," a couple of sheep are shown grazing only for thick black legs to shoot down from above and snatch one of them up, the other moving forward to eat the taken sheep's patch of grass.**

Despite being angry the Vikings were laughing at the sheep, they knew how notoriously greedy the sheep were. Hiccup however was not laughing, instead looking over at the dragons sternly.

_'I recognise that leg, Aedus. Its funny how you snatching a sheep is shown,' _Hiccup attempted to scold him but it was ruined by the slight grin on her face.

_'Hmm, funny that, isn't is,' _Aedus tried being casual and failed miserably, prompting a chuckle from the redhead.

**Hiccup's voice continued over the pictures. "You see most places have mice or mosquitos. We have," the scene changed abruptly to Hiccup pulling open the door of the house she had been shoved into when the raid started, a monstrous nightmare seeing the small girl instantly shot her fire in the direction, Hiccup slamming it shut to lean against as the fire burst through the cracks. "Dragons," she breathed, her voice no longer over the top of the images but instead coming from the figure on screen.**

_'I am so sorry about that Fia, I was under the queen's control," _The monstrous nightmare who had blown the flame apologised quickly.

_'It's fine Verity, I know how much hold the queen has over your actions," _Hiccup accepted, smiling gently at the stunned dragon.

'How do you know my name?'

_'I know all of your names,' _Hiccup shrugged lightly.

_'How?' _Aedus demanded, his face masked with worry.

_'I can somehow hear your names in your hive voices. I don't know how, I just do.' _Hiccup couldn't even explain it herself but she was thankful they left it there.

**The voice went back to voiceover as the screen showed a hilltop in Berk full of dragons, running Vikings and fire. "Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues," Hiccup's voice was laden with sarcasm as a Viking was shown jumping onto a sheep that was being flown away by a dragon and another hitting a flying Gronkle in the face while clinging to its neck.**

"And what do you mean by that lassie?" Gobber asked indignantly, backed by the Vikings while Hiccup gaped at him.

"That," she exclaimed pointing to the screen where the Viking was thrown from the dragon. "You all are absolutely bonkers," she proclaimed sinking back into her seat.

"Don't talk as if you don't have stubbornness issues too," Hiccup huffed and turned away from Gobber as he and some other Vikings nodded in agreement.

'_You have to admit that it's true, Fia,' _Aedus told her, amused. 'You are the single most stubborn _person I've ever met_.' Pouting at him, Hiccup fell down on the couch, splaying across it, unaware of the blush across Aedus's face. She's so adorable when she pouts, the dragon thought longingly, glaring at the barrier that separated them.

**Hiccup ran from the burning house, glancing about in awe. "My name's Hiccup," a Viking fell from the sky and nearly landed on her, stopping her in her tracks. "Great name, I know. But it's not the worst."**

"Really? If your name's not the worst, what is?" Ruffnut sneered at her.

"Snotlout," Hiccup replied back cooly, her face betraying no emotions.

"Yes?" Snotlout asked.

"Wha-no! I wasn't saying that to-just nevermind," Hiccup sighed, seeing the clueless face of her cousin.

'_I for one think Fiametta's human name is adorable!' _Fortuna cooed, making Hiccup blush and hide her face in Aedus's shirt.

**The previous Viking got back up and grabbed an axe that fell nearby, rushing back into the fight with a shout. "Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls." Several Vikings ran into Hiccup nearly pushing her to the ground and she covered her eyes against incoming fire.**

The Vikings who had knocked her looked away guiltily and she sighed. It was a raid, what were they expected to do, wait for her to get out of the way?

**"Like out charming Viking demeanour wouldn't do that," Hiccup fell to the ground with a quiet oof.**

"Now what you mean by that. I'll have you know we're all perfectly respectable," Stoick huffed, the surrounding Vikings nodding in agreement while the dragons huffed their laughter.

Hiccup snorted, blowing a few bangs away from her eyes and crossing her arms, the extra-long sleeves making her look adorable more than the condescending look she was going for. Stoick made a mental note to find out who's shirt that was and why his daughter was wearing it.

"Just watch you'll see in a second," she huffed, turning back to the screen.

**A large Viking appeared from nowhere, nearly landing on her as he roared, his axe raised in the air as he bellowed. "Morning," he said simply, before jumping off her and running away.**

Everyone turned to stare at the Viking pictured who was red to the roots of his hair. "Um, well, you see- OH COME ON! Like you all haven't done that before!" He accused, blushing, as most of the surrounding Vikings blushed red too.

**Hiccup was shown running through the roads of Berk, dodging Vikings as she ran, all of them calling out to her as she passed. "What are you doing here?!" "Get inside!" "What are you doing out!?" "Get back inside!"**

The Vikings all exchanged guilty looks at how they were shown to act, surely they weren't that bad. Hiccup frowned, if she had listened to them she wouldn't have hit Aedus.

'_Hiccup.' _Aedus frowned at his mate, knowing what she was thinking. '_I don't regret anything. Don't feel guilty_.' Smiling gratefully at her mate, Hiccup turned back to watch the movie.

**Hiccup turned to look back at the warriors moving past, nearly running into the path of a Deadly Nadder that was spewing fire along the cobblestones. A large meaty hand grabbed the back of her vest and hauled her back from the path of fire, holding her aloft in the air.**

"Why does everyone manhandle me? I mean sure I'm small, but do I have a sign stuck to my back or something that says 'In need of picking up, please hold here," she complained, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. A few of the dragons chuffed in laughter, completely missing the surprised looks some of the Vikings shot them.

"Well people should stop letting you out of the house lass," Stoick snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me, let me out? Not only am I able to make my own decisions I would like to see even one of you able to keep me in that house. I known 21 different ways to escape it and if that doesn't work I'm not averse to blowing it up and blaming it on the dragons," Hiccup huffed, ignoring the shocked looks from the Vikings and turning back to the screen muttering about overprotective fathers and useless firebombs that didn't go off when you need them to but found it fit to blow up in a barrel when you're trying to hide from your father.

**"Hiccup! What is she doing…? What are you doing out?! Get inside!" Stoick bellowed, letting her down and pushing her towards the nearest shelter, scanning the sky for any nearby threats.**

**The voiceover continued, showing Stoick observing his surroundings. "That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean on its shoulders." Stoick grabbed a nearby cart, lifting it and throwing it through the air so it smashed into a Deadly Nadder flying overhead.**

Several of the dragons cowered back and Hiccup scanned the group till she found the Deadly Nadder on screen, and mimed her apologies the Nadder nodded, bowing her head in thanks.

Meanwhile Stoick chuckled. That old rumor was still going around?

**"Do I believe it? Yes, I do." Hiccup's voice was frank and the Vikings nodded in agreement, Gobber didn't bother he was there when it happened. "Right what have we got?" Stoick demanded, turning to the nearest Viking who stood a few feet shorter than him. "Gronkles. Nadders. Zipplebacks. Oh and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare," the Viking listed, ducking beneath his shield at the end of his list when a nearby barrel exploded, filling the sky with ash and smoke. Stoick just stood still, wiping a flaming cinder off his shoulder after the blast.**

**"Any Night Furies?" Stoick asked, his voice gravelly. "None so far," the Viking answered and Stoick nodded, breathing a sigh of relief, "Good."**

Hiccup glanced over to the dragons only to see her love in dragon form preening after hearing what was said onscreen. _'Oi, don't you go getting a big head you kitty cat,' _Hiccup teased, giggling at his huff of displeasure, his lips forming what could only be accounted to as a dragon's version of a pout.

_'I'm not a kitten, I'm a fearsome Night Fury,' _Aedus huffed, folding his forelegs and sitting back on his haunches in a sulking pose.

_'Yes you're a big, bad dragon, oh help me I'm so scared. Now I'm just going to go back to watching the movie,' _Hiccup responded, rolling her eyes, ignoring as the other dragons start laughing and teasing Aedus through the hive.

**Hiccup was shown running through an active part of town, huge bowls filled with fire being raised into the sky with cries of "Hoist the torches!" Hiccup ran past several Vikings, skidding to a stop in the forge. "Nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!" Gobber greeted cheerfully, pounding a bend sword back into shape as Hiccup hurriedly put on her apron.**

**"Who, me? No, come on, I'm way too muscular for their taste," Hiccup's voice grew strained as she lifted a huge spiked hammer back onto the wall. "They wouldn't know what to do with all this," she gestured feebly to her body and mimed a heroic pose.**

The Vikings laughed and Hiccup pouted, crossing her arms over her chest in a manner scarily similar to what Aedus had been attempting.

"Honestly lass you could barely even lift the hammer onto the peg," Gobber chuckled shaking his head.

"Well maybe I wouldn't have to if you ever learnt how to clean up your forge," Hiccup shot back.

"Oi I keep it clean most of the time!… Okay, some of the time," Gobber amended.

"Ha more like never. Stupid smithies can't keep his bloody tools on the freaking shelves so he makes me do all the work," Hiccup muttered under her breath, unluckily for her Gobber heard.

"It's not that bad lass, don't know why you're complaining," Gobber shot back and Hiccup turned to look at him incuriously, ignoring the looks they were getting from Vikings and dragons alike.

"You don't know why I'm complaining? Well maybe it was that stack of swords you left lying behind the door so when I opened it I nearly impaled myself; or maybe it was the time you made a stack of hammers on your table nearly bigger than you are and when a Terrible Terror got into the forge during a raid they fell and broke my foot; or, I know, maybe it was the time when you 'forgot' you were boiling metal, so that the next time I came into the forge, instead of a new batch off daggers, we had a shiny metal lump blocking off the way to the sharpening tool. Which you then forgot about, so the next raid we had to spend the first half trying to move the damn block of silver, only for you to get distracted and drop the hunk, breaking my other foot only days after the first one had finally healed!" Hiccup exploded and Gobber blushed, looking away embarrassed and whistling an innocent tune. Around them, the Vikings looked at the pair in bewilderment. Hiccup had broken her foot?

'_Hey Fia?' _Aedus asked her. _'I thought you said your father was a rude man who never listened to you? But he seems to care for you quite a bit.'_

'_What?' _Hiccup jumped, visibly surprised, blinking at her mate_. 'No, that's not Dad. That's Gobber. You know, the blacksmith that taught me everything I know?'_

'Oh! Yes, I remember you talking about him. He's the meathead with attitude and interchangable hands, yes?'

_'That's the one,' _smirking, Hiccup turned back to the screen.

**"They need toothpicks don't they," Gobber added quickly changing his hand to one that would work better with his current task. The voiceover came back. "The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well, littler."**

"OI! Who you calling a meathead!?" Gobber yelped, turning to look at Hiccup with accusing eyes.

"Oh you know, just the purple and pink spotted sheep shagging the Changewing on the forge table in a dress, while holding a teacup and reciting poetry, at the same time contemplating world domination," Hiccup said blandly, turning upside down on her couch so her head hung over the seat, long curls pooling against the ground.

For a few seconds the entire room was silent, looks of complete confusion and worry being thrown at Hiccup from all directions. Save for Aedus, who was for some reason blushing, and trying to hide behind Kai.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Astrid asked cautiously, breaking the silence.

"My head is a very dark and very weird place my dear Hofferson, once you have been there you will never return the same as when you entered. I should know I've been stuck in there for 16 years." Hiccup muttered darkly before suddenly beaming and flipping right way up. Closing her eyes momentarily, she sent a message through the hive.

_'I hope you didn't mind me quoting you, Aedus. I just thought that fit the situation perfectly.'_

_'Wait, AEDUS came up with that?_' Verity asked in disbelief, before bursting into laughter with the rest of the dragons. After a few minutes, they calmed down, before bursting into even more laughter at the looks the Vikings were sending them.

"Now let's keep watching the movie," Hiccup chirped, bouncing on her seat as the dragons settled down and the movie continued.

**The scene changed to Stoick talking to another Viking. "Move to the lower defences. We'll counterattack with the catapults." He ordered, following his fellow Vikings as they began running, a dragon setting a building on fire above them, the house consumed in seconds. "See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses." Hiccup's voice came over the top, as frank and honest as ever.**

"It wouldn't have to be that way if the ruddy beasts would just stop attacking," a random Viking piped up, the masses agreeing. Hiccup smiled sadly at Aedus in understanding, the Night Fury giving her back a gummy smile. A Terrible Terror saw her smiling and tried to copy it, trilling happily when it got it right, prancing back and forth in front of a group of Nadders.

Kai saw what the Terror was attempting and rolled his eyes at Hiccup in a 'what can you do kind of way,' snorting through his beak and pushing the terror back towards the group with his tail, the small dragons having nested themselves in the space created where several Monstrous Nightmares had curled up.

**"Let's go!" The view abruptly changed to the other Viking teens fetching buckets of water to put out the fire. "Oh and that's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins: Ruffnut and Tuffnut and… Astrid," a fireball exploded behind the blonde as she walked forwards, the other teens joining her as the fire blazed behind them.**

"Hey, it's us!" Snotlout cried, staring at their figures on screen.

"By the gods I look awesome!" Tuffnut cheered, throwing his hands into the air and doing a little jig in his seat.

"Huh I still look way cooler than you," Ruffnut snorted, letting out a shriek of surprise as Tuffnut dove at her, the twins rolling about on the floor trading punches and kicks.

"Take that back bird brain!" Tuffnut demanded.

"Never troll face," Ruffnut yelled back, punching him in the nose.

"ENOUGH! Just watch the movie!" Stoick bellowed, grabbing the two by the backs of their shirts and pulling them apart.

"Nice to know I'm not the only one manhandled," Hiccup muttered, grinning at the display in front of her before turning back to the movie.

**"Their job is so much cooler."**

"Excuse me? So now running around with buckets of water is cooler than forging weapons?!" Gobber cried indignantly. Hiccup shook her head, smiling.

"No, I love being a blacksmith. I just wanted to hang out with them, and have people my own age to work with." Gobber fell silent at that, as the teens looked at eachother shocked. Did they really exclude Hiccup that much?

**Hiccup attempted to crawl over the counter only for Gobber to grab the back of her shirt and bodily lift her back into the forge. "Come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark." Hiccup complained as Gobber set her back down.**

**"Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places." Gobber enunciated, poking Hiccup in the shoulder with each word.**

The Vikings laughed at the truth in that statement; it was well known Hiccup's ability to get hurt doing the simplest of things. Said Viking snorted, turning away from the group and pouting, her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm not that bad," she muttered, huffing indignantly.

**"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date." **

_'Well, I think I can help with those problems,'_ Aedus declared, causing Hiccup to smile over at him.

**Hiccup gestured widely, boy slumping as Gobber regarded her with an amused expression before ticking things off on his good hand. "You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe..." Gobber stopped for a second to pick up a spare bola lying around "... you can't even throw one of these." He added, a passing Viking leaning in and grabbing the bola, swinging it above his head before letting it fly, the strands wrapping around a Gronkle and bringing it into a nose dive.**

_'Sorry about that, they don't know any better,' _Hiccup apologised to the Gronckle who nodded.

'_I cannot blame them Fia, they see a threat to their home and family and defend against it. I would do the same if it was my kinsmen in danger,' _the Gronkle acknowledged, offering her what amounted to a smile.

**"Okay fine, but this will throw it for me," Hiccup up to an invention shaped like a cannon, patting it proudly. The mechanism released with a jarring twang, Gobber neatly sidestepped the spinning bola, it flew out of the forge and struck an incoming Viking in the face who then fell to the ground with a grunt of pain.**

**"Oops," the small teen offered up weakly as the Viking who she struck turned to glare at her.**

**"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about!" Gobber growled, advancing on the smaller lass who spread her arms in confusion. "Mild calibration issue…" "Hiccup!" Gobber's voice cut off the end of her sentence.**

**"If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons you need to stop all…. this," Gobber gestured to her in general. "But you just pointed to all of me," Hiccup protested confused. "Yes, that's it! Stop being all of you." Gobber poked her in the chest.**

"That was such great advice Gobber," Hiccup commented dryly, leaning back so her head was dangling over the armrest and she was observing the smithy upside down. "I mean why didn't I think of that? To be what others want me to be all I have to do is stop being who I am. Now that I think about it it's so simple," Hiccup mocked praised, clapping her hands together slowly as the blacksmith blushed.

"I dinna mean it like that lass," Gobber protested weakly, before realising he wouldn't win this battle.

_'I for one think Fia is absolutely perfect the way she is,' _Aedus proclaimed loudly, causing the females to coo, and the single males to nod in agreement.

**"Ohhhhh," "Ohh yes," Gobber mimicked Hiccup. "You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw Vikingness contained? There will be consequences," Hiccup shouted, standing up on her tiptoes and waving a finger in an unimpressed Gobber's face.**

**"I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now," Gobber demanded, turning and pulling a sword from the rack before dumping it in Hiccup's arms. The redhead sighed but carried the sword over to the grindstone, resting the blade against the stone as her voice filtered over the top.**

"Wait, wait, wait. You can carry a full blown Viking sword?" Snotlout asked suspiciously and Hiccup blinked surprised.

"Yeah sure. I've been working in the forge since I was like six. You do realise I probably made half of those swords," Hiccup's voice was steady even as the Vikings stared at her in disbelief.

"You must be lying. I mean, even Fishlegs has problems lifting one of those, and he's the strongest out of all of us," Astrid butted in, narrowing her eyes as Hiccup stared back unblinkingly.

"Nope, nothing but the truth. I've made swords, daggers, shields, axes, hammers, bolas and clubs. Hell, even that axe you have Astrid, I made it. Simple trick is to just fold the metal inward so that it hardens upon itself," Hiccup said blandly, her attention drawn back to the screen in time to miss the incurious looks thrown about between the villagers as Gobber beamed proudly.

"Okay is it only me or is it freaky how I'm speaking yet my mouth isn't moving," the simple comment drew the attention back to the screen and everyone settled in to watch.

**"One day, I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here. A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed." The screen showed a group of Nadders prowling about the rooftops of the huts and setting fire to the straw rooves.**

_'I am sorry for anything I say. I was ignorant and foolish before I met Aedus. I had this need to fit in with my kin,' _Hiccup said through the hive, the dragons noticeably relaxing.

_'It is alright little one, we all yearn for a family.' _One of the Nadders spoke and Hiccup dipped her head in thanks. _'But what do you mean by _noticed_? Surely we're worth more than that!'_

**"Gronkles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a date." A group of Gronkles were picking up and carrying off racks of freshly caught fish that were hung out to dry.**

_'Ha, see. The humans see us Gronkles as tougher than Nadders!' _One of the Gronkles burst out and a couple of the Nadders snarled back.

_'Hey, you all have your strengths! It depends on where, when and what you fight. It does not make any of you any less fearsome an opponent.' _Hiccup cut in gently, the dragons chattering their agreement through the hive.

**"A Zippleback?" One head leant through a door and filled the house with flammable smoke while the second sent its sparks down the chimney, turning the house into an explosion. "Exotic. Two heads, twice the status."**

_'Oh yeah!'_

_'Go us!_'

_'We're awesome!'_ Two of the Zippleback heads chanted.

_'Shut it, Lifa! You're not better than us, Lielo!' _Hifon rolled his eyes at the duo.

**The Zippleback flew past Stoick and another man on one of the catapults. "They found the sheep!" the first yelled. "Concentrate fire over the lower bank," Stoick ordered, turning the catapults direction. "Fire!"**

"You know if you attached a pulley system to the base and added a second hold next to the first then you could get twice the damage with half the time. I wonder if you added a rig there, maybe a triple bolt just to be sure. Nah you need a support system there then… but maybe if we factored in the balance of the cross beams we could wire that over the loading cable and then attach that to the major allotment…" Hiccup's voice trailed off as she noticed the room at large staring at her, dragons included, most in complete awe and confusion. Blushing heavily she ducked back down, burying her head into the warm material of Aedus' shirt and breathing in deeply.

"What was that lass?" Stoick asked amazed, staring at her with a sort of bewildered awe.

"Um, it's just a way to, you know, improve it. I sort of do that with everything," Hiccup admitted sheepishly, twisting the soft fabric of her shirt between her fingers, pointedly turning back to the movie.

**The catapult went off with a whoosh, the stone hitting a stray flying Nadder as a hiss slowly echoed from the screen. "And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after them." Stoick peered over the edge of the structure only to see a ring of flames encompassing the way down. "They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire." A Monstrous Nightmare head suddenly appeared through the flames, jaws snapping at Stoick.**

'I am sorry little one for attempting to harm your kin, I was mad with blood lust and the queen's need for food. Although, I am happy that you value Monstrous Nightmares so high on your scale of power.'

_'You're forgiven Lydie, I know your actions weren't your own and I can't exactly blame you for having to obey that monster. And I sort of was terrified of most Nightmares for years, so of course I think they're powerful.' _Hiccup grinned as the Monstrous Nightmare relaxed, obviously relieved that she wasn't holding grudge. Once more Hiccup wondered why the Vikings couldn't see this was how dragons really were.

**"Reload, I'll take care of this," Stoick's voice boomed across the screen. His hammer met the jaw of the monstrous nightmare several times, the dragon attempting to catch him in its jaws. "But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one's ever seen." A Night Fury call began to sound and the Monstrous Nightmare fled, Stoick looked to the skies while in the workshop Hiccup abruptly stopped sharpening the sword.**

**"We call it the…" Hiccup's voice was cut off as the Vikings in the square paused. "Night Fury!" "Get down!" A plasma blast struck one of the catapult towers in a blue and gold blast that sounded through the village, the Vikings all hid beneath their shield in an attempt to protect if a blast was near them.**

_'Hear that, I am the most dangerous of all dragons' _Aedus preened, shuffling his wings proudly as he grinned at the other dragons, showing his teeth in an adorable smile.

_'Oh, I don't know there, love. I know you pretty well and I may say I think you might not be fully dragon. Maybe even part kitten,' _A teasing smile lit Hiccup's face, directed at Toothless who looked back at her with the most impressive attempt at puppy dog eyes she had ever seen on a dragon.

_'You don't think I'm fearsome,_' he whined, crossing his arms and sitting back on his haunches, staring up at her with sad eyes.

_'You're the most fearsome dragon I know with your sad eyes and pouty dramatics'_ Hiccup responded dryly, raising an eyebrow as he chuffed moodily. The other dragons made a chortling sound similar to laughter and Hiccup grinned at how human like they were acting. Sometimes she forgot that all the dragons could become human, they were so separate from their tame side at times it was difficult to remember.

Her smile became forced as she remembered what was about to happen, and who it was about to happen to. She cringed, playing back the point at which she realised she was the one to ground Aedus, to bring him from the skies and make him reliant on her.

_'It's okay mi luna y estrellas. If it hadn't happened, I never would have met you.' _Hiccup smiled softly at her beloved. Aedus always seemed to know what she was thinking, and she felt her shoulders relaxing as he grinned gummily at her.

_'I love you two mi sol y ceilo.'_

**The catapult explodes in a blaze of fire and the form of Stoick becomes apparent through the flames. "Jump!" he shouts, the Vikings fleeing the burning structure. The scene changed to Hiccup in the workshop. "This thing never steals food, never shows itself and…" the view changes to a second plasma blast being directed at the already breaking catapult, "…never misses."**

"What's its shot limit? I mean, even the Hideous Zippleback can run out of smoke," Fishlegs queried nervously and Hiccup repressed a grin.

"Shot limit? Don't know if it has one… I mean, not that we know of. Anyone who's faced a Night Fury hasn't lived to tell of it," Gobber explained, rubbing a large hand through his beard.

Hiccup turned her head slightly, raising an eyebrow at Aedus who chortled knowingly at her from his place in the centre of the dragons.

"Hey, wait a minute," Fishlegs suddenly shouted excitedly, catching the attention of the room. "Do you guys think that a Night Fury was transported here with the rest of the dragons? This could be our only chance seeing a Class 7 Strike Class dragon up close!" The Vikings all started searching through the crowd of dragons for a Night Fury, as Aedus scrunched down and tried to make himself as small as possible.

'_What in Thor's hammer is a Class 7 Strike Class dragon?!' _Aedus asks Hiccup in worry.

_'It's just a statistical way for us to sort the dragons that we know of. Class 7 is pretty high; the average class for dragons is 3 or 4.'_

_'Ha! So you admit that I'm powerful and dangerous!' _Aedus crowed triumphantly puffing up, and in the process bringing every Viking eye to him.

"It's a Night Fury!"

"Get down!" At that call every Viking hit the floor, while Hiccup and the dragons just stared at them incredulously. Sighing, Hiccup gestures dramatically at her kin.

_'I present, the fearless Vikings of Berk.' _Out loud however, she said, "Alright guys, as hilarious as this is, the Night Fury isn't attacking us. Mainly because there's a _barrier_ protecting us from the dragons, in case you forgot." Sheepishly, the Vikings all resumed their prior positions, and Hiccup rolled her eyes as the movie started up again.

**Hiccup leant further out of the forge window the voiceover continuing over the top. "No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first."**

_'I'm sorry Aedus, I didn't mean it. I was stupid and desperate to fit in,' _Hiccup whispered through the link.

_'It's fine love. You wanted a family, somewhere to belong. And if you think of it this way. You may not have been the first to kill a night fury, but you were the first to fall in love with one' _Aedus reassured her through the hive and she smiled down at her lap, a small blush coating her cheeks.

**Hiccup walked away from the window, Gobber pulling off his prosthetic. "Man the fort Hiccup. They need me out there." Gobber attached an axe to his prosthetic and limped quickly towards the forge exit.**

**Gobber turned back at the door, a worried expression on his face. "Stay. Put. There." He was slowly inching towards the forge door, Hiccup's eyes darting about conspiratorially. "You know what I mean," Gobber reaffirmed before running off into the battle with a fierce battle cry.**

"Gobber! How could you leave her on her own?! You know she'll run away at the first opportunity!" Stoick yelled exasperated and Gobber grinned sheepishly.

"Okay to be fair to Gobber, if all the Vikings on the island can't keep me in the house, there is no way in hell that you're going to be able to keep me in the forge," Hiccup stated casually, grinning innocently as the village as a whole turned to look at her indignantly.

"Thank you lass. Besides Stoick I would like to see you try and keep an eye on her without something mysteriously happening," Gobber grunted and though he would deny it vehemently, he was pouting.

**Hiccup was shown running through the village, pushing her invention in front of her. "Where are you going?" A random Viking called. "Yeah, I know," she called back, missing the question. "Hiccup!" a lady screamed as she was nearly run over. "Be right back!" she continued her mad dash through the village, ignoring the continued protests.**

"At least no one tried to pick me up," Hiccup shrugged, kicking her feet absentmindedly.

"It might be harder if you weren't so small," Snotlout taunted and Hiccup scowled fiercely at him, clenching her fists in anger.

"Are you such an idiot that you haven't realised that Astrid, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut are all just as thin as I am. Plus what you seem to think is muscle, dear cousin, is _fat_. And the small amount of muscle you have certainly isn't in your head," Hiccup shot back and Snotlout seemed to beam.

"Exactly. It's not in my head it's in my arms where it should be," he grinned, proud of his comeback while the surrounding Vikings gaped at his stupidity.

"'Oh, I give up. I might as well go argue with a chair. Who knows it might be smarter than the idiots that surround me," Hiccup lamented, falling back onto her small couch dramatically, looking at her pillow for a moment, before turning to an empty chair that just happened to be next to her couch. **(AN: I don't know how that got there... *whistles innocently while averting gaze*)**

"Excuse me chair, but why in the world are you _there_? Why aren't you over _there _where people can see the movie better?" Hiccup asked the chair in an extremely snarky and sarcastic tone.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I just don't want any of those people to sit on me," the chair replied back, to the shock of everyone in the room**. (AN: HA! DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING!)**

"Well why not?"

"They seem rather heavy. I might break under that much weight. Though I don't think I would mind if you sat on me. You're much less fat." Hiccup beamed at the compliment.

"Why thank you! But I'm okay with my couch for now. It's got a great view of the movie."

"Alright then, suit yourself." With that, the chair stopped talking, and Hiccup turned to face the still gaping Vikings and dragons in the room.

"What?" Wisely, the Vikings turned away, questioning the mentality of their smallest member, while the dragons all listened to Hiccup laughing through the link.

_'Ha! Man, their faces! They didn't even realize that the chair was just Darcy transformed!' _The dragons all let out a synchronised '_Ohhhh' _at hearing the explanation.

Looking down at the pillow that writing had appeared on, telling Hiccup what to do, she saw that another sentence had replaced what was on there before.

Actually Hiccup, I'm not Darcy. I'm a friend of hers who had to take over while she went out to observe and record data about a world inside of a book. But don't worry; you'll see me very soon. -SV

Blinking, Hiccup turned back to the movie, with a single thought in her mind. _Who in the world is SV?_

**A group of Deadly Nadders is shown sniffing around a bunch of sheep, Stoick threw a large net over them and a sudden gang of Vikings run up to hold it down. A head begins spewing fire and Stoick jumps on it to hold it shut, "Mind yourselves. The devils still have some juice in them," he calls, bringing the head down to the ground and holding it there.**

Hiccup winced at the violent action onscreen, turning her head so she didn't have to watch it. Astrid caught the action and frowned slightly in confusion… why was Hiccup cringing away from violence? She was first in dragon training at the moment, though now that Astrid thought about it she hadn't actually seen Hiccup fight a dragon in a bloody confrontation; just mysteriously knock them out or put them back into their cages.

**Hiccup was shown running through the village again, the cart pushed in front of her before she drew to a sudden halt at a cliffs edge on the borders of the village. She placed it down with a gasp, small hands quickly pulling various pieces out and prepping them into position. A giant bola launcher was featured on screen, Hiccup holding taunt onto the handles that allowed it to be fired vast distances.**

The villagers stared at the screen in shock, mouths wide at the sheer brilliance of the invention.

"Holy hell lass, you made that?" Gobber croaked, eyes examining the intricate piece of machinery with both awe and trepidation.

"Yeah it was easy. I just used various materials laying around the forge then calibrated it for someone of my stature and strength. It was actually really easy in hindsight." She shrugged off the accomplishment as if it were nothing while Gobber knew that he nor anyone else would have or ever will create anything as close in significance to Hiccup's design.

The villagers looked at each other in shock. That's what had fired the bola at the Viking? Just imagine what an expierienced Viking could do with that!

**"Come on. Give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at" she muttered, eyes scanning the dark sky as she moved the launcher side to side slowly. A soft screech filled the air, slowly getting louder and louder as it seemed to be getting closer, Hiccup's eyes widening then narrowing as she attempted to spot the Night Fury.**

**It was blacking out stars as it flew, the shape barely visible against the inky darkness. Her eyes widened as the Night Fury went in for the kill, the catapult lighting on fire as the shape flew away. Hiccup squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger, the force of the bola launching sending her tumbling to the ground in a mass of limbs. The bola was shown spinning as Hiccup clambered to her feet. A thud, a screech then the tell-tale shape falling out of the sky were clear indications that Hiccup had hit a Night Fury.**

The entire room was silent. The Vikings in awe that the one thought to be the weakest amongst them had felled the most fearsome of all the beasts and the dragons at the fact that a human had downed the Night Fury, known as the lord of the skies.

"You actually did hit a Night Fury?" Fishlegs asked slowly, turning his large bulk to face her. Every other Viking and dragon followed his lead, staring in awe and surprise at the small girl curled up on the couch. There were several expressions of regret and disappointment to as they recalled how they had dismissed her claims out of hand, probably missing out on their one chance to ever meet and kill a Night Fury.

"I told you I did. None of you believed me though." Hiccup's voice was quiet and several of the inhabitants of the room could hear the note of shame and sadness that coated her tone.

Suddenly the Viking half of the room burst into cheers.

"You did it Hiccup!"

"That menace will probably never fly again!"

"Maybe if we head to where it landed we can find it's bones and make you a new helmet out of them!" Hiccup cringed at that, remembering the breast hat.

"I'm proud of you, Hiccup." Stoick told her seriously, a large grin spread across his face. Hiccup mustered a grin, which dropped immediately as the Vikings stopped looking at her, instead planning a search party out to Raven's point.

_'I am sooooo sorry Aedus. I can't believe how hard it must be for you to watch this,' _Hiccup murmured through the hive, expression downcast as she fiddled with the sleeves of his shirt. Aedus hated then more than ever the fact that he wasn't allowed to cross the line until the weird girl told him he could or Hiccup came over.

_'It's fine my love. I would have done the same in your position. You knew not of me or of dragons; just what you had been taught, and you acted on instinct to protect your home.' _Aedus reassured and Hiccup smiled thankfully at him, fiery curls slipping down the hide her face from view of the Vikings as she blew him a kiss.

**"I hit it. Yes, I hit it!" Hiccup cheered, throwing her arms into the air in celebration and twirling to face the village at large. "Did anybody see that?" her tone was triumphant. A Monstrous Nightmare is seen crawling over the edge of the cliff, already blazing with fire as it creeps up behind her, suddenly storming onto the cliff and crushing the bola launcher with a fierce growl.**

The Vikings froze, their celebration forgotten, in the face of this new threat. Across the barrier, Aedus tensed, wishing more than anything that he could protect his mate from this threat.

'_Wait a minute... That's me!'_ Hifon shouted, the male Monstrous Nightmare swiveling his head to face Aedus. '_Sorry about that. But hey, at least I didn't hurt her.' _Aedus relaxed slightly, but couldn't completely calm down, his instincts raging at him to protect his mate.

**Hiccup turned slowly, shoulders drooping low as she sighed in exasperation. "Except for you." Her tone was frank and she seemed to tense up as it lifted its head. Eyes dangerous as it glared down at her.**

The entire room paused for a second to take in the absurdity of that statement, Hiccup facing off against a dangerous dragon and treating it with the same sarcasm that she did them. Then as one they collapsed into laughter, howling at the ridiculousness of the situation. Most of the dragons were chuckling along and Hiccup exchanged a pain filled look with Aedus before sinking into her couch with a pout. It was going to be a long movie.

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**HEY GUYS! CHECK IT OUT! I GOT A NEW UPDATE DRAGON! HIS NAME IS SPIKE, AND I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU FED HIM WITH REVIEWS AND SNOTLOUT!**

**And sorry about that long update thing. This was a longer chapter than usual.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Well, I have only one thing to say right now. I HATE HOMEWORK! Seriously, my schedule gives me only about an hour of free time a day. The only reason I was able to update now, is because I have a four day weekend. THANK YOU!**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter, and Spike says thank you for all the yummy reviews and Snotlout sacrifices.**

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**Stoick looked over his shoulder from his place beside the Gronckle as a scream echoed through the village. Two figures silhouetted against the darkness, a huge monstrous nightmare snapping at the distinct shape of Hiccup, who was fleeing from the great breast. Stoick sighed before heaving himself to his feet. "Do not let them escape!" he ordered, "Right!" a Viking called back.**

"Great, now Hiccup the Useless comes out," Hiccup sighed, as she looked upon a scene she remembered _very_ well. Near her, the Vikings who heard her comment shifted uncomfortably. While it was true that Hiccup messed up a lot of things, they were beginning to realize that it wasn't due to her being terrible at stuff. No, the true problem was that Hiccup had the downright _worst_ luck of any Viking on Berk.

**The scene switched to Hiccup narrowly dodging blasts from the Monstrous Nightmare. Taking refuge behind a huge pillar she cried out in shock as a huge fire blast assaulted the post, curving around the wood and narrowly missing Hiccup. The flames slowed down and she slowly turned her head, hoping to catch a glimpse.**

"Of course I look in the opposite direction that the dragon is!" Hiccup fumes, while a group of Vikings all start to make bets on just how terrible Hiccup's luck truly is.

"Wow, lass. You've got seriously messed up hamingja," Gobber mutters, as Vikings around him nod in agreement**. (AN: 'Hamingja;' the Old Norse word for the luck of an individual)**

"I wonder what she could have possibly done to tick Gefion off so badly," Stoick questioned, thinking hard about which of Hiccup's mistakes could have offended the goddess of luck.

**The Nightmares head peaked around the other side, seconds from taking a bite out of Hiccup when Stoick appeared and stop it from devouring her.**

_'I am sorry Fia, I was deranged; under the queen's spell I knew no difference between friend and foe,'_ the Nightmare apologised formally, bowing its great head to her in a subtle manner that went unnoticed by the Vikings.

'_It's fine, Julius. You were forced to do something against your will by a cruel beast. I will not hold your actions against you, just as I hope you won't hold his against him.'_ She peered at him through lowered eyes and he tipped his head in acknowledgement.

'_You are a child of his village, and it is his duty to protect his people; I would only hold it against him if he had not intervened. Children are precious, and they are more valuable than anything else I can think of. Except maybe love._' The Monstrous Nightmare had unknowingly restored Hiccup's hope in her relationship with Stoick. Surely if he cared that much he wouldn't hurt her when he found out about Aedus.

_Stoick rolled to his feet, facing off against the nightmare who roared its anger, attempting to blast him with fire only to let out a tiny stream that stopped a few meters short of hitting him. A scared look entered its eyes and it drew back slightly, "You're all out," Stoick muttered, advancing forward and punching it across the face with a hoarse shout. Moving closer as the dragon backed up under a flurry of kicks and punches before ultimately fleeing into the air._

Astrid studied Hiccup's face closely as she winced at each hit. There were two things annoying the blonde right now. One the fact that Hiccup actually seemed remorseful about hitting a Night Fury as well as any other dragon getting hurt. And two, she was wearing a shirt that was both too big for her, and styled like a boys; which meant Hiccup had a boyfriend. And Odin help her, she was going to find out who.

**"Oh and there's one more thing you need to know." Her voice trailed off as Stoick turned to face her, the wooden pillar, now charred fell slowly from its hold. It hit the ground with a crash as the fire filled bowl split off and rolled slowly through the village with screams following its process, Hiccup wincing at each pained shout**.

_'Ha! Fia, your facial expressions are hilarious!' _Lifa exclaimed, a few sparks spitting out as she spoke.

_'Yeah! And all that destruction! Beautiful!'_ Lielo added in, the Zippleback heads staring at the screen with flames in their eyes. Sweatdropping, the dragons around them all took a step away from the duo.

**"Sorry, Dad," she apologised lowly, hunching her shoulder in on herself.**

'_WHAT?!' _The dragon side of the room exploded into roars, causing many Vikings to jump and reach for the weapons that weren't on them.

_'You mean to say that that large dragonslayer is your father?!' _Lydie asked Hiccup in shock, being one of the few dragons who were able to still speak.

'_There's almost no resemblance at all!'_

_'You were made from that?!'_

_'Huh. Well that explains the reddish tint to your hair._' Gulgin calmly added, looking at Hiccup's hair with the practiced eye of an artist. Other dragons looked closer after hearing this, and seeing the red strands within the brown, nodded.

_'I don't see why it's such a big deal. He made me. It's not like he's ever actually taught me anything, or acted like an actual father was supposed to.'_

Hiccup glumly looked off to the side, remembering one time when her father had tried to teach her to fish, before giving up after she had gone looking for trolls. But could you blame her? Gobber had said they were real, and she had been an impressionable six year old.

_'So that's your father, then?' _Aedus asked Hiccup, looking Stoick up and down fearfully. Before, the large Viking hadn't really scared him at all, but now that he knew that the man was Hiccup's father; he was _terrified_ of him! There was just some sort of primal, instinctive fear that told Aedus that he _needed _to be scared of his mate's father.

_'Well, mi luna y estrellas; I can tell you this much. Your father is very large, but he saved you from Hifon, so he doesn't hate you. I can't really judge him very well right now, but I think that despite what you think, he has to care for you a little.' _Hiccup smiled over at Aedus, gratitude clear in her eyes, and blew a kiss over to him.

_'Thanks Aedus, that really means a lot. But what about when he finds out about you? As much as I want to believe he'll accept me- accept us- he hates dragons for killing Mom. I just don't think its in his heart._'

_'Look Hiccup, I know you don't have much faith in your father, but trust me. All parents love their children without fault. He may not accept you, but he will always love you,'_ Fortuna promised her, the elderly Nadder looking straight at Kai.

'_Thanks, Mom. Love you too,' _Kai told her, shooting a grin in her direction, as Fortuna rolled her eyes.

'_Wait, Fortuna's your mother?' _Hiccup asked Kai, gaping. The Nadder grinned at her and nodded, his tail waving happily in the air.

'_Yep. And don't think you can avoid the real subject here. Your father is, as you put it, "Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk." So why haven't you told us that you were Berk's future Chief? 'Cause that seems like something important to tell your friends.'_

_'It just never came up in a conversation. And besides, I doubt that Berk wants me as their Chief anyway. You've seen how they act around me. I'm just a Hiccup that gets in their way._' Sniffling, Hiccup turned back to the screen, in a way "logging off" of the hive, and effectively ignoring Aedus and the other dragons trying to talk to her.

Astrid stared over at Hiccup in confusion. Why was she crying? The young heiress of the tribe was turning out to be more confusing than she thought.

**The fire bowl rolled straight through the area where the Gronckles were being held down, prompting the Vikings to let go and flee and for the dragons to escape. The dragons were shown flying away with livestock as Hiccup watched morosely**.

"Okay before anything else happens, I would like to know how this is all my fault?! I mean seriously; a dragon chased me, burnt through a pole, and suddenly everyone's annoyed at me! I mean the twin's burn down the barns about once every month, Snotlout is constantly putting holes in the side of buildings with his mace, and just last Tuesday Astrid split so many support beams throwing her axe at people who annoyed her that one of the forge's rooves collapsed! And then a dragon goes and burns down a post, and of course it must be my fault, because who the fuck else are you going to blame other than the useless Hiccup! As if none of you have ever not damaged anything during a dragon raid!" Hiccup huffed angrily, curling up into a ball on her couch and screaming into the pillow so that all that could be heard was a faint whisper.

"Lass, we're not saying it's your fault, we're just saying-"

"Oh yeah! You're not saying it's my fault! Watch the movie and tell me if you're showing me how its 'not my fault!'" The young Viking shouted, jabbing a finger at the screen with tears running down her face.

"Hiccup-"

"No! Watch. The. Fucking. Movie." Hiccup growled out, and reluctantly, the Vikings turned to look, already realizing what was coming.

**Hiccup glanced around at all the glaring faces, "Okay, but I hit a Night Fury."**

Cue wince from said girl.

**She said quickly, Stoick's hand reaching out to lift her up by the back of her vest and swing her around. "It's not like the last few time, Dad! I really, actually hit it!" her voice was a mix of hurt and pleading, a rare tone that was heard from the usually sarcastic girl. Stoick ignored her and continued pulling her along.**

'_The last few times?' _Aedus wondered, several other dragons echoing the statement. Hiccup however, was still ignoring the hive, using her humanity to detach her voice from it.

**"You guys were busy. I had a very clear shot. It went down off Raven Point. Let's get a search party…" her rambling was interrupted by Stoick. "Stop!" Stoick finally bellowed. "Just stop."**

"Isn't just hilarious how I manage to shoot down one of Berk's greatest enemies, and yet no one even thinks to go looking for it," Hiccup stated sarcastically, still glaring at the screen, but not crying as hard anymore. As the Vikings winced, Hiccup stopped crying long enough to smile in secret vindictiveness. If they had believed her, then they would have gone looking, found Toothless and she would never have been where she was today. Madly in love with her Night Fury boyfriend, with a group of sarcastic dragons that just happened to shift into humans who lived in the dragon training centre, and a village full of Vikings who believed her to be some dragon killing machine. On second thought, that last one wasn't so good.

**"Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" Stoick ranted while Hiccup cast her eyes about nervously.**

"Tch. And there it is. Its my fault. Because every time I step outside, disaster follows." Hiccup muttered scornfully, as the Vikings around her cringed at her tone.

"Now lass, just because we didn't see the real you before, doesn't mean we don't now! Now we know the truth; you're the best dragonkiller we've seen since- well, Stoick!" Gobber told her, trying to cheer her up.

"And yet, even with all that, none of you still see the real me." As Hiccup saw Gobber open his mouth again, she silenced him with a wave of her hand. "I have some questions for all of you, and Gobber, you aren't allowed to answer them."

The blacksmith nodded hesitantly and glanced around, hoping that the other Vikings would be able to answer Hiccup's questions.

"First question; what is my favorite food? Discuss it amongst yourselves, and then one of you answer." Hiccup sat back watching as several Vikings all huddled up, before Stoick stepped forward confidently.

"Sheep, obviously. That's what I used to cook for you when you were a wee lass," Stoick chuckled, remembering the dinners, before one word struck him done.

"Wrong."

"What?" Stoick gasped, obviously shocked, as Hiccup rolled her eyes and Gobber sighed.

"My favorite food is Cloudberries. Or when I can't get those, I like bjørnebær (blackberries). Sheep is your favorite, Dad. I, however, am a vegitarian."

"What? But-"

"Next question; what weapon am I fully mastered in wielding?" Okay, now this one none of the Vikings knew. Some of them looked over to see if Gobber could give them hints, but the blacksmith just mimed locking his lips.

"Um... an axe?" Stoick tried, looking nervous as he glanced at his daughter.

"Gobber?" Hiccup questioned, never looking away from her Dad.

"Bow and arrow," Gobber sighed out, looking sympathetically at Stoick.

"When?"

"When ye were nine." Hiccup nodded once, closing her eyes, and breaking the stare-off between her and Stoick.

"The real me, is someone that very few have seen, and even fewer still actually know. This only proves that you don't know her." Hiccup turned back to the screen, and the Vikings surrounding her were too shocked to even speak back.

**"Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding don't you think?" Hiccup asked sarcastically, instantly reverting to her primary defence. The Vikings looked both shocked an indignant, several placing protective hand across their considerable bulk.**

"Oi lass, what is it with you and insulting our weight?" Gobber frowned moodily, his own prosthetic hand pressed against his large stomach.

"Hey, you pick on me for my height, my weight, my lack of muscle, my sarcasm, my fighting skills, my drawing abilities, my hair, my eyes, my skin colour, my heritage, my love of learning, my forging skills, and basically anything about me you can see fault in. I take my shots where I can find them." Hiccup shrugged, noticing several guilty looks being thrown about and instantly dismissing them as having anything to do with her. They had made her life hell since the moment she had been born, so there was no way in hell they were allowed to feel sorry for her now.

**"This isn't a joke Hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?" Stoick asked exasperated. "I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just kill it. It's who I am dad," she said simply.**

No. That's not not who I am, Hiccup thought firmly.

**"Oh, you're many things, Hiccup. But a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house," he ordered disappointedly. "Make sure she gets there." Stoick told Gobber who walked up and whacked Hiccup in the back of the head to get the young teen moving. "I have her mess to clean up."**

"And of course it's _my_ mess. It's not like there was a whole horde of dragons demolishing the village, setting fire to the houses and taking our livestock. It's all my fault, I understand that and from now on accept all ownership for the things the dragons do," Hiccup ranted as sarcastically as possible, getting a fair few guilty looks that she shrugged off.

**Hiccup plodded wearily past the group of teenagers. "Quite the performance," Tuffnut snickered, Ruffnut laughing beside him. "I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped." Snotlout jeered mockingly. "Thank you, thank you. I was trying." Hiccup muttered annoyed at their idiocy. Gobber walked past, grabbing the dark haired boy by his helmet and pushing him to the ground.**

Hiccup flashed a quick smile to the blacksmith. Gobber always had defended her, even if it was in his own subtle way.

Snotlout quickly rose to his feet and tried to laugh it off, peering indiscreetly back at Astrid.

Stoick squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, glancing at his daughter in quick short stares. He had never known that the other teens could be that mean. Sure Hiccup would have been teased a little but he never knew just how cruel the taunts could be. And if what his daughter said was true then the whole village was in on it. He took another look at his daughter, curled up on the couch she looked even smaller than normal, delicate and fragile, something that needed to be protected. And at that point he promised that he would do his best to look after his little girl, she deserved that much from him at least.

**"I really did hit one." Hiccup protested, walking up to the stairs to the chief's house on top of the hill, the highest point in the village apart from the great hall. "Sure Hiccup," Gobber agreed. "He never listens," she complained, Gobber prodding her to keep her moving. "It runs in the family," Gobber returned dryly.**

**"And when he does it's always with this disappointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich. 'Excuse me barmaid. I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fishbone." Hiccup imitated Stoick, ending with a broken expression.**

The village was for once quiet, torn between laughing at the young girl's excellent imitation of Stoick and crying at what she thought her own father saw her as. Stoick had gone deathly still, his face a pale white as he stared at the screen in horror. He had made his own daughter think she didn't mean anything to him, that she was useless and unworthy of her title as the future chieftain of Berk.

"Oh lass," he sighed, standing and making his way to the couch his daughter was curled up on, picking her up and pulling her into a large bear hug, his huge frame dwarfing her own petite body. "I'm so sorry Hiccup, so sorry for anything I've ever said or done to make you think that I don't love you more than anything on this earth. It's just, you remind me so much of your mother. She was just as determined as you, always running out during raids without thinking. And I see you, and then all I can see is her being carried away by those beasts. I just couldn't bear seeing her all the time, and after awhile, I forgot that I'm not the only one whose feelings were hurt." Stoick whispered, his eyes suspiciously watery as his daughter wrapped her small arms around his neck and hugged him back as fiercely as she could.

"Its okay Dad, I just want to make you proud," Hiccup murmured back, tears clouding her eyes making them twice as bright as normal.

"And you do Hiccup, you do." Stoick hugged her one last time before moving back to sit on his own couch.

But will you still be proud when you find out about Aedus? Hiccup couldn't help but think.

**"Now you're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like, it's what inside that he can't stand." Gobber said frankly.**

The audience just stared at the blacksmith in shock. That just made it worse!

**Hiccup stared at him in stunned disbelief, did he seriously think that would make her feel better? "Thank you, for summing that up." She said sarcastically, moving to open the door to her home.**

"You are the worst advice giver I have ever met," Hiccup stated blandly, shaking her head in annoyance. Gobber at least had the grace to look sheepish.

_'I think that they're the ones who need to be more like you are, mi luna y estrellas._' Aedus told her purring, and Hiccup realized that she had accidentally logged back into the hive.

_'Thank you, mi sol y cielo. I know that you'll always be there for me. The real me,' _Hiccup happily smiled at him, and he smiled a gummy smile back at her that had once given him his nickname.

**"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not." Gobber pressed, voice lower and more sympathetic. "I just want to be one of you guys." Hiccup muttered sadly, the door slamming shut behind her as Gobber sighed.**

Most of the villagers instantly felt ashamed, how could they have been so horrible that they had made their future chieftess think she was only a burden; someone who wasn't even one of them. Stoick especially felt guilty; he had let his little girl down, had failed her as both a father and as a leader. He was meant to keep the tribe together, make sure that everyone had a part to play. Instead he had let his only child believe they were only a nuisance.

**Just as Gobber was seen leaving down the hill the back door burst open, Hiccup stumbling out and racing off towards the woods.**

"No! Hiccup, you better not be looking for that dragon!" Gobber groaned out, slapping a hand over his face.

**A golden dragon statue is shown, impaled on a huge silver sword. The symbol for the tribe of the Hairy Hooligans.**

The dragons in the room flinched, several letting loose low groans of pain as if remembering the various times they had been stabbed by a sword such as that one. The Vikings stared in surprise at the human like emotions the dragons were showing, they had been raised to believe that they were little more than beasts with no emotion.

**"Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them. If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home!"**

'_Or, Queen Maldua will go on a rampage and attack every island from here to Queen Bjoria's nest.' _Verity saracastically told the Vikings, who only heard a Nightmare growling at them, and backed away.

**Stoick stabbed a nearby dagger into the map. "One more search before the ice sets in." He declared, the Vikings shifting nervously in the crowd. "Those ships never come back." A man at the front of the crowd called.**

**"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?!" He stared about the hall to see everyone looking away. "Todays no good for me." "I have to do my axe returns." The excuses came fast and heavy, each more ridiculous than the last. "All right. Those who stay will look after Hiccup." "To the ships!" "I'm with you!" Nearly every Vikings hand was in the air. "That's more like it." Stoick nodded satisfied.**

Hiccup looked away from the screen, blinking back tears as she wrapped her arms around her stomach in an attempt to hold in the hurt. The other villagers exchanged horrified looks, they hadn't really thought much of it at the time. But to know that you're entire village would rather face a fiery death than take care of you would have to hurt. A stray tear escaped from her eye and Hiccup hastened to wipe it away, capturing Aedus' concerned gaze and giving him a watery smile.

_'I'm sorry, love. They do not deserve an angel like you.'_ He comforted her, sending her several waves of love through the hive that left her feeling warm and fuzzy. Her other dragon friends from the ring hurriedly agreed, sending her their own feelings of love and care, showing her the depths of their friendship.

_'Th-thank you. Thank you so much!'_

Hiccup broke down, tears streaming down her face, but sending a brilliant smile at the dragons near her. _'You're all my best friends!'_

_'We care for you Fiametta. Never forget that. Bonds of flame are stronger than bonds of blood.' _Gulgin sagely said, causing Strikisa, a _very _pretty Nightmare sitting near him to smile at him, and slyly wink at the blushing male.

'_Hive me,' _Strikisa purred, and left Gulgin blushing with all his friends teasing him.

**Gobber sat drinking heavily from his mug, wiping his mouth off on his arm. "Right, I'll pack my undies." He said, starting to rise to his feet. "No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits." Stoick said, walking over to him. "Perfect. And while I'm busy Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to herself. What could possibly go wrong?" Gobber rolled his eyes and took another drink from his mug.**

"I am deeply offended at that accusation," Hiccup mock gasped, pressing her hand to her heart in an over exaggerated gesture.

"Sure you are lassie, but I don't think you can deny it," Gobber teased.

"Oh please you set fire to the bellows one time and its held against you for the rest of your life." Hiccup muttered angrily, pouting and sinking back into her chair.

**"What am I going to do with her Gobber?" Stoick sighed. "Put her in training." "No I'm serious," Stoick bit out, "So am I," Gobber said, raising his eyebrows. "She'd be killed before the first dragon is out of its cage," Stoick argued, Gobber waved off his concerns, "You don't know that," he said, "No, I do," Stoick pressed on, "No, you don't," Gobber stressed, sick of the argument already. "Listen, you know what she's like. From the time she could crawl, he's been… different."**

**Stoick sighed as Gobber took another sip from his mug. "She doesn't listen. She has the attention span of a sparrow. I take her fishing and she goes-goes hunting for trolls!" Stoick sounded so disbelieving for a chief of a village plagued by dragons.**

"Hey! Trolls do exist! They creep into your room and steal your socks! But only the left ones… What's with that?" Hiccup and Gobber both exclaimed at once, missing the incredulous looks thrown their way.

"To be fair lass, you didn't find a troll," Stoick reminded her and and Hiccup just nodded sadly, dropping her head onto her hand.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Five hours of troll hunting, and all I find is a valley filled with rocks!" She pouted, annoyed her hard work had gone to waste. "And besides, how was I supposed to know trolls didn't exist?! I was six, and Gobber told me they were real!"

"They are real! I heard so from my penpal!" Gobber shouted. "He lives with them!"

"Really? You took the word of your mysterious penpal who you only have contact with through letters brought in by Trader Johann?" Stoick asked his friend, sighing.

"Oh, you just shut it! I know Kristoff wouldn't lie to me! He's got a reindeer! That means he's a reliable source!" Gobber turned back to the screen with a huff.

"Sure Gobber, sure. And what have you been telling your penpal in return? The story of the Boneknapper?" Mulch chuckled, laughing with the other Vikings as Gobber stewed.

**"Trolls exist! They steal your socks! But only the left ones. What's with that?" his voice turned quizzical as he attempted to puzzle it out.**

**"When I was a boy…" Stoick began and Gobber rolled his eyes. "Here we go." "…my father told me to bang my head against and rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And do you know what happened?" Stoick asked, addressing his question to Gobber. "You got a headache," Gobber guess sarcastically, examining a small cube of iron he had found in the bottom of his mug.**

"Seriously what is it with you and the rock story? Every single time I question something you tell it to me. I bet that if you put together the number of fingers and toes in the entire village, you still would have told me more times than that number," Hiccup groaned in frustration, facepalming.

**"That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could… he could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas!" Stoick finished passionately and sat back on the bench near Gobber as he continued in a much quieter tone of voice. "Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become. Hiccup is not that child," he said sadly, staring over at his childhood friend.**

"Dad I know how much you like that story, but as I have pointed out every time you tell it; you cannot crush mountains. Rocks; maybe, boulders even, but not cannot level forests… unless you're a Timberjack, or a fire. Both of which I highly doubt you are. And you cannot tame seas; you can ride them, maybe, but there's more to it than that. Mountains are the grandfathers of this land, watching over the lands for longer than we've even been here. Forests are immortal, regrowing whatever is lost, and seas are massive, powerful forces of nature, that care not for the might of men." Hiccup lamented.

The teens blinked at her impassioned speech, "That was almost poetic," Astrid commented surprised, cracking a small smile as Hiccup pulled a weirded-out face at the thought.

**"You can't stop her, Stoick. You can only prepare her. I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is you won't always be around to protect her. She's going to get out there again. She's probably out there right now." Gobber lamented Stoick's brooding face shown, his thick eyebrows drawing down over clear eyes.**

Hiccup suddenly burst into hysterical cackles, damn near falling off the couch as she laughed manically. The laughter slowly tailed off as she caught the weird looks being thrown her way and she quickly sobered up.

"What? The irony of that sentence cannot be understated," she shrugged, as if she hadn't just had a mental lapse out of nowhere. "I mean, I'm literally out in the woods hunting down a dragon, and Gobber just says that. Hilarious!"

"It's more worrying than it is funny, lass." Gobber mutters, the Vikings near him nodding in agreement.

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**Hey guys! This is sort of late, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Have a happy week! Don't forget to feed Spike! Actually, feed Spike extra, because he's gonna be in the next chapter or two! YAY!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Happy Halloween! I have free time right now to write this, so I hope you all enjoy! Sorry about the huge wait. Swim team takes up all my free time. But look on the bright side; it will be over around Nov. 15th, and then I can start updating again!**

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**Chapter 3**

**The movie shows a drawn map of the island, covered in X's.**

"What are all those X's for?" Fishlegs asks curiously, recognizing the page to be a map of Berk.

"You'll see in a second," Hiccup replied remembering that that X was the last one she drew before she found Aedus.

**Hiccup looks up from it and peeks over a gorge, expectantly, and sees... nothing. She adds another 'X' to the page, then scratches her pencil over the whole map in frustration. She snaps the book closed and pockets it.**

"Hey, no need to take it out on the book, lass," Gobber chuckled, knowing that the pages would soon be joining a very large pile of similarly scratched out pages, which now acted as food for the flames of the forge.

**Hiccup sighs in frustration. "Uggh, the gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon!"**

"Ah for one-mph think its a guds sing, if Hiccup 'ad-mmmph foun the wagon, she would'a been eat'n who'e," Bertha said, almost unable to talk around a mouthful of popcorn. Key word there being almost.

_'Ugh,'_ Kai gagged. _'That's just gross. If you're going to insult our eating habits, at least do it in a way that doesn't make everyone want to barf about yours.'_

Hiccup giggled at the Nadder, only to stare straight ahead with a full on pokerface as several Vikings turned to see who was laughing.

**Angrily, Hiccup whacks a low-hanging branch. It snaps back at her, hitting her in the face.**

"Hah! Useless can't even beat a tree branch!" Snotlout laughed, as Hiccup curled in on herself.

Suddenly all the Vikings all tensed, as roars and growls errupted from the side of the room with all the dragons.

_'Little pipsqueak!'_

_'You don't know a thing about Fiametta!'_

_'I'd like to see you beat that tree when I shove it up your-'_

_'Don't listen to them Fia,'_ Aedus told her fiercely. _'You are stronger than all of them. You may have the body of a human, but you have the soul of a dragon, and the heart of a queen, and you are more powerful than they know.'_

Her head lifting up at her loved one's words, Hiccup gave him a happy smile, with tears in her eyes. _'Thank you mi sol el cielo. You are my entire world.'_

_'And you are mine,'_ he replied lovingly, as the other dragons pulled over to a different part of the Hive to give the two some privacy.

**Scowling, she looks up to see a snapped tree trunk. Her eyes follow it to a long trench of up-turned earth.**

The once teasing mood in the theater instantly evaporated, as all eyes fixed to the screen in nervous anticipation.

**Hiccup follows it, stumbling through the trench, climbing above a crest, only to shrink back down as she sees the dragon on the other side. Slowly peeking back over, she realizes its not moving, and approaches cautiously. The camera shows a downed black dragon, smaller than a Nightmare, but larger than a yak. It's wings and legs are tangled in a bola, and it appears to be dead.**

Hiccup gives a strangled sob, that is unheard among the cheering of the other Vikings. _'Aedus, you look like you're- I'm so sorry! All I do is mess things up! If it wasn't for me, you'd be flying in the sky right now.'_

_'That doesn't matter to me mi luna las strellas. Remember, I'm right here. I didn't die, and you didn't kill me,'_ Aedus reassures her, but seeing that it had no effect on the distressed Hiccup, he began to panic and speak without thinking._ 'Fia, calm down, it's okay! I love you more than I ever loved anyone. Fia, please stop crying, you mean more to me than my tail does, just calm down! You mean more to me than flying ever did! For you, I'd give up my wings!'_

All the dragons froze, and Hiccup let out an audible gasp. Aedus' declaration had not only been so loud that it had spread through the entire network, but he had just declared that Hiccup meant more than his wings. To the dragons, their wings were their pride, and flying was everything to them. To be willing to give up your wings for another was to say that you were giving up your freedom to them, and completely putting yourself under their disposal. It was the ultimate declaration of love.

_'A-Aedus,'_ Hiccup stuttered, shocked and happy beyond words.

_'Please mi luna las strellas. I would give you the world, just please don't cry anymore. Please.'_ He begged, sounding desperate. And he was; hearing Hiccup crying over him completely ripped his heart into pieces.

_'Okay Aedus. I promise I'll try not to cry anymore.'_ Hiccup promised before looking back at the movie, which unfroze, to the happiness of the Vikings, who were oblivious to the extremely profound event that just took place, and just wanted to get back to the movie.

**"Oh wow," Hiccup breathes in shock. "I did it. I did it. This fixes everything." Placing her foot on the Night Fury in a victory pose, she starts speaking louder, elated. "Yes! I have brought down this mighty beast!"**

"Good for you, Hiccup!" Stoick shouts happily. "That's my daughter. Taking down a Night Fury without any training!"

The rest of the Vikings cheer in agreement.

**The dragon suddenly shifts.**

Every Viking in the room freezes as silence quickly settles over the room.

**"Whoa!" Hiccup springs back, terrified. Quickly drawing her dagger, she points it at the dragon in defence. Scared, Hiccup creeps along the length of the weak, wounded Night Fury. As she reaches the head, Hiccup finds the Night Fury staring coldly at her.**

"Creepy," a random Viking says.

_Beautiful_, thinks Hiccup. Staring at the eyes filled with fear, she remembers exactly why she spared the dragon that day.

**She tries to look away, but she's drawn back to its unnerving, unflinching stare. With the dragon safety tangled in the ropes, Hiccup jabs with her dagger, puffing herself up with false bravado. Swallowing, Hiccup transfers her dragger grip, and lifts it up to strike down at the dragon.**

**"I'm going to kill you, dragon. I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a Viking." She speaks as if to assure herself.**

"Go Hiccup!" Fishlegs cheers, and that sets off the rest of the Vikings, all shout encouragement. Hiccup shrinks into herself, trying to get away from that memory, trying to drown herself self in the shirt with the lingering scent of her mate.

**"I am a VIKING!" She repeats louder glaring at the beast. Hiccup raises the dagger, determined to prove to everyone that she isn't a mess, a mistake. To show those who mocked her that she is strong, and that she will be able to make her father proud of her. The dragon's labored breathing breaks Hiccup's clenched concentration. She opens an eye, uncertainty leaking through. The dragon holds the stare. As the two enemies stare eachother down, something profound is exchanged.**

"What's happening?" Gobber asks, in awe of the battle of wills taking place in front of him.

"I have no idea." Stoick answers back, eyes glued to to screen.

**Finally, the Night Fury closes its eye and lowers its head, resigned to its fate.**

"Alright Hiccup! Kill it now!" Tuffnut screams.

"Yeah, gut that dragon like a... um... what do you gut?" Ruffnut questions, as most of the dragons face-palm.

_'This is the future generation of dragon killers?'_ Verity asks, unimpressed.

_'More importantly, how the heck are you the one getting teased? From my point of view, Fia is the only sane human in the village!'_ Kai exclaims.

**Hiccup tries to go through with it, holding the dagger aloft... fighting herself... trying to go against her very nature to prove herself to her family, until finally lowering it with a frustrated sigh.**

"Hiccup, what are you doing? Kill it!" Gobber exclaims.

**"Looks like they were all right," Hiccup admits, staring at the sky with tears starting to trickle slowly down her face. "I am a hiccup. I'm a mistake."**

The Vikings all froze, as her words registered with them. Two facts became very clear to them in that moment. One, Hiccup was not going to kill their enemy. Two, she thought that she was a mistake. And really, how had they helped with that. They had named her Hiccup! Hiccup meant mistake in their village, and they had practically branded one of their own with that title since her birth.

_'NO! Fia you listen to me.'_ Aedus roared through the Hive at his saddened mate. _'You are not a mistake! I love you! Please! Don't try to change because I love you the way you are!'_

_'Aedus. It's okay, I know who I am now,'_ Hiccup said softly, raising her head to look at the dragons. _'Those are the words of a shadow. And that shadow can't hurt me anymore because I'm not afraid of the dark anymore. Because my sun will burn it all away.'_

Aedus looked at her lovingly, and knew that if there wasn't a barrier between them, he would run to her now, and shower her with all of his love. _'Forever and always, mi luna las strellas.'_ He promised.

**She looks back down at the dragon's bola bound limbs. "I did this," she says, voice cracking with the realization. She turns to leave, but pauses. And glances back at the dragon, chest heaving.**

**The Night Fury's eyes shoot open. Looking down, the dragon sees the pathetic human that had shot him down... releasing him. With the dragon watching in bewilderment, Hiccup hurriedly saws through the bola ropes, careful not to touch the dragon in fear that it would wake up.**

"Hiccup! What are you doing!" Stoick roars, furious at his daughter. She had their enemy, right at her hands, and was letting it go! Turning, he prepared to yell at her, only for the movie to continue playing, instead of stopping like it had every other time they had talked.

**As the last rope falls free, the Night Fury suddenly pounced. In a blur, the dragon is upon her, pinning Hiccup down against a rock, looking like it's about to kill her. Hiccup is paralyzed with fear as the dragon's breath ruffles her hair.**

_'You know,'_ Aedus starts, looking predatorily at his mate. _'I think that under different circumstances, that particular position is something worth trying.'_ Hiccup blushs, before she smirks at the Night Fury.

_'Well, that would work, but only if I'm the one on top.'_ Turning back around before Aedus could see her completely red face, Hiccup tries to hold her giggles, as the other dragons all tease a completely shell shocked and blushing Night Fury.

**Hiccup glances up to find the Night Fury's wolf-like stare boring into her. The exchange is intense, but special. Hiccup's eyes widen as she sees something in them, only to flinch back as the dragon takes a deep breath, as if it's about to breath fire, but lets out an ear-piercing scream instead. It turns and takes flight, flapping violently through the canopy of trees. It bashes against the side of a nearby cove, and goes down into it, dropping out of view.**

_'You know, that really hurt.'_ Hiccup thought angrily, glaring at her mate.

_'I'm sorry!_' Aedus apologizes, before smirking at her suggestively. _'If it helps I can kiss it better...'_

Hiccup blushes bright red, and turns around in a huff, while Verity and Fortuna coo at the couple's cuteness.

**Winded, Hiccup struggles to her feet, staggering a few steps, before collapsing to her knees, and faints.**

"Hiccup!" Stoick shouts, leaping to his feet once he saw the movie had stopped, and stomping towards his daughter. Hiccup looked around in a panic trying to find a way to escape only to notice something off to her left. A Night Fury was embroidered into the plush pillow along with a message in cursive. _Go to him._ Letting a smile cross her face, Hiccup leapt up and dashed away from her father, towards the barrier.

"Hiccup! Get back here!" Stoick commanded sternly, confused as to why his daughter was backing herself into a dead end, only to gape in shock with the rest of the Vikings as Hiccup passed through the barrier. "Hiccup!" Now afraid for his daughter's life, Stoick charged at the barrier, fully prepared to defend his daughter from the beasts, only to slam hard against the barrier, and fall on his rump.

"Aedus!" Hiccup cried happily, as she bounded toward her mate. Aedus ran toward her, transforming on the way.

"Hiccup!" He cried happily, as he embraced his mate, finally feeling whole again. Behind him all the other dragons began transforming into their human forms as well, eager to greet the legendary dragon rider in person.

On the other side of the barrier, the Vikings were all in shock, not only was Hiccup safely hugging a dragon, but the dragons were turning into people! Stoick's thoughts were more specific. All he seemed to see was his daughter, hugging a shirtless boy.

"Oh!" Hiccup cried realized what Stoick had, as she and her mate looked at each other happily. "Here Aedus, I never gave you your shirt back." Taking off her beloved's shirt, she was left in her long green dress and brown leggings.

"Thank you, mi luna las strellas." Aedus smiled at her, and as he put on his shirt, the other dragons started greeting her.

"Hiccup! How's my favorite human?" Kai smiled as he pulled her into a hug. His long blue hair fell into his golden eyes, and his trademark smirk still sat on his face.

"Nice to see you too, Kai!"

"Fia! It's such a pleasure to meet you!" Verity greeted, walking up to her. As a human she had long violet hair, and piercing yellow eyes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Verity!"

"I gotta say, Aedus." A Gronckle, who Hiccup immediately identified as Firan, looked her up and down. "Not only if your mate more polite than you, she's way prettier too!"

Growling possessively, Aedus's arms snaked around Hiccup and brought her securely into his chest. _No one was allowed to touch his mate! She was his!_ Laughing, Hiccup turned around and leaned up to kiss her beloved softly. Breaking away she leaned up to whisper in his ear.

"Don't worry, mi sol el cielo. I'm yours. Only yours."

"Yes you are, " he whispered back. "And that means no one else is allowed to do this to you." Hiccup briefly frowned in confusion to his statement, before gasping as she felt her mate nuzzling her ear softly. "I told you I'd kiss your ear better for earlier, mi luna las strellas."

"Thank you, Aedus. My ear feels much better now." She teased him, as he pulled back to gaze at her fondly. Everyone laughed at the display, only for a hesitant voice to cut through them.

"Hiccup?" Gobber questioned, all the Vikings looking over at them in shock. "What's going on?"

* * *

**Ba-bang! There it is! I was thinking that I probably could have waited to reveal the dragon's transforming powers, but then I thought that was just too mean to Hiccup and Aedus.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Wow. I have not worked on this at all. :( Now I'll be giving all my wonderful and patient readers a treat for Christmas! (Or whatever holiday you celebrate!) Now we hear some explanations.**

**SUPER IMPORTANT! THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO AngelsDevilsXx, WHO SENT ME A REALLY NICE PM! :) **

Chapter 4

The two sides of the room looked in shock each other for a moment, as the Vikings stared at their heir in the arms of what had been a Night Fury moments ago.

"FREEZE!" A voice echoed through the room suddenly, and a flash of white light, similar to the one that transported them appeared in the middle of the room. In its place stood a figure... who was facing the other way.

"What the-? Where did everyone go?" The figure looked around in confusion, before spotting the bewildered audience behind her. "Oh! There you are!"

It was a girl. She had shoulder-length brown hair with bangs, and a prominent nose. Her purple eyes blinked, and her mouth quirked up into a grin. The most noticeable feature, however, were the black and purple scales crowning her forehead and cheeks.

"Well then, introductions first. I am Spyrite Vesta, and I am the one who brought you here." She said, dipping into a curtsy. Hiccup thought back to the pillow. It had been signed, S.V. That probably stood for Spyrite's name, meaning she was the one who came up with the chair prank.

"Wait, but didn't that Darcy girl bring us here?" Fishlegs asked, remembering the blonde girl that had appeared before them in a similar way.

"Oh, well Darcy was the one with the plan and idea to bring you here. I'm the one with the space manipulation who opened the temporal portal that locked onto your life signatures to teleport you here!" Seeing their dumbstruck looks, she sighed. "I'm the one who made the magic white light that brought you here."

"Ohhhh," the Vikings all nodded in understanding.

"So are you a witch?" Astrid asked suspiciously, her eyes narrowing at Spyrite.

"No, of course not." Spyrite rolled her eyes, before muttering under her breath. "Not in this dimension, anyway. Truthfully, I'm a dragon." There was shocked silence for a moment, and then the Vikings remembered the fact that their enemies could apparently turn into humans. They turned to look over at the dragons again, and this time it was Stoick who questioned Hiccup.

"Hiccup, what's going on?" Hiccup opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to think of how to explain this confusing mess, but luckily she was saved by Spyrite.

"Well, basically everything is answered by the movie, so you guys just sit down and watch that." The Vikings nodded, and went to sit down, but Stoick didn't move.

"Well, before I continue your muvi-" "Movie." "I demand to know why my daughter was wearing that thing's shirt!" At this, Hiccup blushed, and buried her face in Aedus's chest, much to the Night Fury's pleasure.

"Well that's cause-" Spyrite started, before a ping suddenly echoed through the room, and she pulled a slim black rectangle, that had a picture of Aedus on the back of it. **(AN: That actually is my phone case! Its so amazing!)** She looked at it for a minute, lightly tapping it, before her eyes widened and her mouth dropped.

"CHRONOS! What the Hades does that mean?!" Spyrite scowled, before looking back at the audience. "Sorry, but I have to go. This is urgent."

Then she looked up at the ceiling. "Spike! As of now, you're in charge! Try not to eat too many reviews at once!" And with that, she disappeared, leaving an extremely confused audience.

"Um, so why don't we all sit down to watch the movie?" Hiccup suggested nervously, and chairs and couches suddenly appeared on the dragon's side, where previously there were none. The dragons all chose their seats, and Aedus and Hiccup snagged a couch next to Kai and Verity's seats. And with that, the movie continued.

**Hiccup enters her house, only to see her dad sitting by the fire-pit, waiting for her. He stirs the coals with his axe, embers wafting around his beard. Hiccup goes into stealth mode, trying to sneak past, up the stairs to her room. **

"Please, lass, as if that will actually work." Gobber snorts, startling most of the Vikings out of the shocked reverie that they had been in. Looking up at the screen, they thought Hiccup was actually doing a pretty good job at silently climbing the stairs.

**Stoick seems none the wiser, when his head suddenly bobs up and he speaks. "Hiccup."**

"Busted." Snotlout snickers with the twins laughing with him, the three of them having been in that situation many, many times before.

**Said girl freezes on the stairs, caught, before reluctantly crawling back down. **

**"Dad. Uh..." Stoick stands up, taking a deep breath. "I, uh... I have to talk to you, Dad." **

**"I need to speak with you too, daughter." Hiccup and Stoick both straighten up before rushing out at the same moment. **

**"I've decided I don't want to I think it's time you learn fight dragons to fight dragons." A moment passes. "What? What?"**

"Wow, talk about terrible timing." Kai chortles. "Right when her dad finally gives Hiccup a chance, she finds out she can't kill dragons."

**"You go first." Stoick tells his daughter.**

**"No, you go first."**

"I still regret saying that," Hiccup muttered under her breath, the dragons near her patting her on the back sympathetically.

**"Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning." Hearing this Hiccup starts panicking.**

**"Oh man, I should've gone first. Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough... bread-making Vikings,-" **

"YES! Make her a bread making Viking!" Aedus cried, jumping up, causing Hiccup to almost fall off the couch, and startling everyone else in the room.

"Um, Aedus? You okay, dude?" Firan asked the Night Fury.

"You don't understand, Firan! One time, Hiccup brought me some human bread that she made. It tasted better than Angler Fish!" By now, Aedus was practically watering at the mouth, as many of the dragons' eyes widened.

"Angler Fish?" Fishlegs questioned, curious enough about this new fish that he was willing to overlook the fact he was talking to a dragon.

"Angler Fish are delicious, but they only live in deep shadowy ocean rifts. To get one, you need to know a Scauldron who isn't afraid of the dark," Mettina, the Gronckle from the ring, explained.

"Well, if you like my bread that much, I'm willing to make you some more," Hiccup offered Aedus, who laughed and sat back down on the couch, hugging his mate in thanks.

**"-or small home repair vikings?"**

**Hiccup accentuates each point with small movements, but Stoick just ignores her and drops an axe in Hiccups floundering hands, the young girl struggling with the sudden weight for a moment before hefting it in one of her hands.**

**"You'll need this." Seeing that her dad wasn't going to understand with her staying subtle, Hiccup chose to come forward with the straight truth.**

**"I don't want to fight dragons." Stoick laughs and this, and smiles.**

**"Come on. Yes, you do."**

**"Rephrase. Dad I can't kill dragons."**

**"But you will kill dragons." **

**"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't." Stoick just ignores his daughters pleads and leans over, his face completely serious.**

**"It's time Hiccup." **

**"Can you not hear me?" **

**"This is serious, daughter! When you carry this axe... you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us. You talk like us. You think like us. No more of... this." He gestures at Hiccup, who clenches her jaw in anger.**

**"You just gestured to all of me." Ignored.**

"Wow," Kai looks at Hiccup in sympathy. "How many times have you been on the recieving end of that gesture?"

"More times than I can count. And that's saying something." Hiccup sadly replied, her head ducking down into the warmth of Aedus's shirt, missing the regretful looks the Vikings were currently wearing on their faces.

**"Deal?" **

**"This conversation is feeling very one-sided." Also ignored.**

**"Deal?!" Stoick says, more firmly this time. Hiccup glances at the axe in her hands. It's a no-win argument. **

**"Deal." Hiccup confirms, resigned. Satisfied, Stoick grabs his helmet and duffel bag, and heads for the door.**

**"Good. Train hard. I'll be back. Probably."**

**"And I'll be here. Maybe." Stoick heads out the door, leaving Hiccup holding the axe. She looks at the axe in her hand for a moment, before she scowls and drops it.**

"Do all conversations with your father sound like that?" Fortuna wondered, many of the dragons and Vikings both incredulous at the absolute lack of communication between parent and child.

"Unfortunately, yes." Hiccup replied, finally leaving the comforts of Aedus's shirt.

**"Welcome to dragon training!" Gobber cheerfully says as he raises a massive iron gate at the entrance of a vast stone arena. The recruits file through the gate, and out onto the arena floor. They take it in like gladiators entering the colosseum. The walls are covered in scorched silhouettes of blasted Vikings. It's a grim yet awe-inspiring place.**

"That ring!" Kai hissed out, with Lifa and Lielo, Mettina, and Verity all joining in for a moment to glare at the screen depicting their prison. Ryu whimpered and scampered over to Hiccup and Aedus's couch to hide, trembling in her lap.

"I don't wanna go back to the scary stone pit! Don't wanna go back! Don't make me go back, Sis! Please!" Ryu cried to Hiccup, who started hugging and comforting the scared Terrible Terror.

"It's alright, Ryu. You don't have to fight anymore. I'll protect you," Hiccup cooed at him, shocking most of the Vikings, who hadn't seen this soft side of her before.

**"No turning back," Astrid breathes out, as if she had just accepted all the responsibility in the world.**

"Good! At least one of our kids are serious about this!" Ingrid Hofferson called out, the other parents starting to make bets.

"Are they stupid?" Hiccup muttered, as Ryu calmed down enough to crawl off her lap to sit next to her.

"What do you mean, Hiccup?" Aedus asked her, seeing her focused on the betting parents.

"This is showing us the past, meaning most of the village already knows the outcome. Placing bets like that is just stupid." Then she noticed Gobber, making multiple bets, and catching Hiccup's gaze, he winked. Hiccup smirked. Gobber was going to completely scam the entire village.

**"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut says to Snotlout.**

**"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut adds in.**

**"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid agrees, only for the trainees to turn as an unexpected voice sounds from behind them. **

"Are you people insane? What kind of person likes pain?!" Mettina cried in disbelief, only to sweatdrop as she noticed Lifa and Lielo and Verity staring at the screen with bloodlust in their eyes.

**"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." Hiccup says sarcastically, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere but there. Groans come from all around.**

"And there's that world famous sarcasm!" Aedus teases Hiccup, laughing as she pouted. She just smacked his arm in retaliation, rolling her eyes.

**"Oh great. Who let her in?" Tuffnut sneers at the girl, only for Gobber to start the class.**

"I don't know... the Chief?" Verity drawled, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

**"Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village." Gobber says from next to Hiccup, emphasized the word 'killing' with a twist of his hook.**

The dragons in the room all flinched, much to the astonishment of the Vikings, who weren't used to seeing their opponents showing any feeling.

**"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify her or...?" Snotlout asks as the recruits all laugh and chatter in the background. **

**"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut adds, cueing more laughs. Gobber throws a supportive arm around Hiccup and ushers her along.**

"Will you two just shut up! Its just rude for you to pick on Fi-Hiccup like that!" Verity stood, glaring at them, internally wincing at almost messing up Fiametta's human name. Both Tuffnut and Snotlout flinched, before their jaws dropped open as they stared at her.

"What are you looking at?!" Verity growled, only for Hiccup's laughter to cause her to look over at the brunette.

"Verity," Hiccup managed to get out between laughs. "Your hair's on fire!"

"Oh!" The Monstrous Nightmare grabbed some of her violet hair, and seeing the flames licking it, blushed. "Sorry, it does that when I get emotional!" She closed her eyes for a second, concentrating, and the flames extinguished. She sat back down, as the movie unpaused.

**"Don't worry. You're small and weak looking. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." Gobber cheerfully tells her, before sticking her in line next to Fishlegs and continues on toward five massive reinforced doors. Terrible roars and bellows issue from within. **

Cue dragons flinching again.

**"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight. The Deadly Nadder."**

"Hey! That's me!" Kai shouted, grinning like a maniac, as he bumped fists with the other dragons from the ring.

**Fishlegs immediately rattling off under his breath, "Speed eight. Armor sixteen."**

"Wait, what?" Kai asked, blinking multiple times. Fishlegs opened his mouth to explain, but someone beat him to the chase.

"Isn't it obvious, Kai?" Mettina rolled her eyes at the Nadder. "Since he said Speed and Armor, he was saying how fast you were and how protective your scales. The numbers after it are most likely a form of measurement, used by the humans to compare us to a standard. Am I right?" She finished, looking back at a dumbfounded group of Vikings, who had never heard anyone understand what Fishlegs was saying before.

**"The Hideous Zippleback."**

"Aw yeah!"

"That's us!" Lifa and Lielo fist bumped, with Lielo letting out a little gas and Lifa sparking to create a small explosion. Most dragons just rolled their eyes at the two, completely used to it.

"Power of two!"

**"Plus eleven stealth. Times two."**

**"The Monstrous Nightmare."**

"And there I am," Verity smirked, pride flowing off her in waves.

**"Firepower fifteen!"**

**"The Terrible Terror."**

"Sis! Sis! Look! There I am!" Ryu shouted excitedly, bouncing up and down on the couch, and smiling at Hiccup. Many of the Vikings smiled at the duo, before remembering that the kid was a dragon, and turning away.

**"Attack eight! Venom twelve!"**

**"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" Gobber yells at Fishlegs, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "And...the Gronckle."**

"And finally, I'm introduced," Mettina smiles, as Snotlout and Tuffnut snicker at Fishlegs getting yelled at by Gobber.

**Fishlegs quietly whispers to Hiccup, "Jaw strength, eight." Gobber pulls a lever, raising the cross beam on the last of the doors. **

**"Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first!?" Snotlout yells, panicked. **

"Nope! He believes in learning on the job!" Hiccup tells him, glaring at Gobber, who has the decency to look sheepish. "If a six year old comes to him as an apprentice, and knows nothing at all about blacksmithing, what's the solution? Oh, I know! Let's have her try to make an axe! After all, its not like she'll burn herself on the forge, making her accidently pour molten metal all over a catapult, causing it to fire straight into the Chief's house! No, learning on the job is a great idea!"

"I already said I was sorry about that, lass." Gobber tells Hiccup, who just snorts and rolls her eyes.

"Oh really? Do I need mention the Pegleg Incident?"

"NO! I mean, no. No, you don't have to say anything about that, lass." Gobber blushes and sinks into his seat, while the room looks at each other in confusion. What in Thor's Beard was the Pegleg Incident?

**"I believe in learning on job." BAM! A Gronckle thunders out of its cave, charging into the ring like an irate rhino. The recruits scramble in every direction. Except for Ruffnut and Tuffnut who rush toward it, like pumped-up rodeo clowns.**

**"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead."**

"Seriously? That's how they teach you how to fight us?" Lifa asked, an eyebrow raised.

"That's not a very good method," Lielo continued.

"When teaching someone,"

"It's always better,"

"If you help then understand the theory,"

"Then apply it practically." The dragons nodded in hearing the Zippleback, after all, that was how they learned to fly.

**"Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?!"**

**"A doctor?" Hiccup cries out, panicked.**

**"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs suggests. **

**"A shield." Astrid says confidently, already running to grab one. **

"That's my girl!" Ingrid cried proudly, as the other parents mumbled amongst each other and traded money.

**"Shields. Go." Gobber orders, seeing the rest of the recruits just standing there. The recruits scramble for shields, finding them scattered around the ring. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield."**

**Hiccup struggles trying to tighten the straps around her skinny arms. Gobber helps her, then sends her running. Ruff and Tuff stand amidst a dozen shields. But only one has a skull painted on it. They both grab it at the same time.**

"Ugh," the Thorston parents groan, knowing that their children were about to start arguing.

**"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut says, starting the twins infamous arguing.**

**"There are like a million shields!" **

**"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Ruffnut uses the shield to bash Tuffnut in the face. He lets go momentarily, and his sister mocks him. **

**"Oops, now this one has blood on it." The Gronckle takes aim at the distracted twins. BLAM! The shield is blasted out of both of their hands. Tuff and Ruff SPIN like tops and go down.**

**"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" **

Grumbling, a few of the Vikings who bet on the twins coughed up their money, glaring at Gobber who was collecting a majority of the cash.

**"What?" The twins ask, both dazed. The Gronckle slams into a wall, and seeing a pile of rocks, scoops it up and swallows. The teens gather on the far side of the ring.**

**"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." Gobber tells his students, who immediately scoop up weapons and begin hammering on their shields. The Gronckle shakes its head at the clatter, and for a moment we see it from the dragon's point of view. The teens targets become blurry and scrambled. **

"So that's what its like," Stoick mutters thoughtfully, making note of how the dragon's weaknesses worked.

"Ugh, I hate it when that happens." Mettina moans, and Verity looks at her sympathetically, both of them having hearing that could mess with sight.

**"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?"**

**"Five!" Snotlout shouts, guessing. **

"No, son," Spitelout scowls, Snotlout flinching away from his stare to look at the ground. Neither noticed Verity also flinching as she saw the exchange, it reminding her of something long ago...

**"No, six!" Fishlegs yells confidently.**

"Good job," Luglegs Ingerman praised his son. "Knowledge is power."

**"Correct, six. That's one for each of you!" Fishlegs looks proud for a moment, before trying to talk to Gobber, not noticing the Gronckle stop to take aim at him.**

**"I really don't think my parents would-" BAM! Fishlegs has his shield blasted away. **

"Knowledge may be power, but that knowledge is useless if you can't use it when the time is right." Mettina announced, smirking.

**"Fishlegs, out." Gobber spots Hiccup hiding from the Gronckle's molten slugs."Hiccup, get in there!"**

**Across the arena, Astrid is bouncing on her heels, ready to dodge a blast. Snotlout appears, trying to hit on her. **

**"So anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out-" She cartwheels out of the way, allowing a shot to shoot past her and hit Snotlout's shield. He's blasted onto his back. **

"Snotlout!" Spitelout growls at his son, who at least looks ashamed at not trying his hardest to take out the dragon.

**"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber cries, as Astrid rolls to a stop beside Hiccup, who stirs awkwardly, trying to look cool. **

"So, I guess it's just you and me huh?" Hiccup asks her, her voice breaking, not noticing the blonde girls eyes widening.

**"No. Just you." Astrid rolls away. A split-second later a lava slug knocks Hiccup's shield clear off of her arm. Hiccup is exposed. **

"Sorry about that, Hiccup," Mettina winces.

"It's no problem, not like anything happened to permanently injure me," Hiccup smiled, but then remembered what came next, and subtly started scooting away from her Night Fury boyfriend.

**"One shot left!" Gobber informs them as Hiccup panics and chases after her shield as it rolls across the ring. The sudden movement sends the Gronckle chasing after her, leaving Astrid in the clear. **

"Hiccup!" Aedus cried out in worry, his eyes widening, as he turned to his mate and pulled her back to his side, cradling her in his arms as if she might suddenly disappear. Hiccup blushed, but stayed like that, knowing that Aedus was just worried about her.

On the Viking side, the Berkians were also worrying about their heiress, but in a much more controlled manner, considering they knew that she had survived, and that Gobber was in the ring to prevent things like this.

**"Hiccup!" Gobber cries out in worry as the Gronckle drives straight toward Hiccup, pinning her against the wall. It opens its mouth and cocks its tail, ready to fire point-blank. Gobber lunges in and hooks the Gronckle's mouth at the last second, causing its head to jerk back and fire against the stone wall above Hiccup's head. **

"Sorry! I was just scared, and I'm sorry about almost scorching your head," Mettina apologized. Hiccup smiled and nodded, showing she understood, and forgave her. Patting Aedus's arm so he would let her go, Hiccup returned to her former position between Aedus and Ryu.

**"And that's six!" Gobber wrestles the irate Gronckle back into her pen. "Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!"**

"Excuse me?! What do you mean by overgrown sausage!" Mettina glared at the blacksmith, in the rage of an irate female whose looks had been insulted. "I know that we Gronckles are bigger boned than the other dragons, but that's no reason to insult our looks by calling us sausages!"

"Uh, sorry lass. Er, dragon." Gobber apologized awkwardly, but it did the trick, as Mettina calmed down enough to go sit with Verity with a huff.

**"You'll get another chance, don't you worry." Slam! Lock. Gobber turns to the recruits.**

**"Remember... a dragon will always, always go for the kill." He hoists Hiccup to her feet and walks off. Hiccup looks overhead to see a steaming pit in the solid stone wall.**

"Woo! Go me! I'm an exception to the rule!" Aedus cheered, high-fiving Kai. Across the room Vikings were exchanging money from the bets, and most of it was going to Gobber. Back on the dragon side, Hiccup just rolled her eyes at the two males cheering about not killing.

_Two guys who are bragging about spilling the least amount of guts. It's like the opposite of the gang. Hold on a sec_, Hiccup thought sitting up straight. _Now that I think about it, the ring dragons are like a replica of the Viking teens on Berk._

_Verity's like Snotlout, from what I've seen so far. Both are proud and slightly arrogant, but Verity seems a bit more practical than Snotlout. Not to mention way more skilled._

_Lifa and Lielo are like the twins. Both love destruction, and are extremely mischevous. The only difference is that the twins on Berk fight and prank each other, while the Zippleback just pranks others, and doesn't really fight with each other._

_Then there's Mettina. The way she rambles off facts is exactly like Fishlegs. The only difference being that Fishlegs is more of a sidelines guy, while Mettina likes using her knowledge on the front lines._

_Kai and Astrid aren't as similar as everyone else, but both have a competitive streak a mile wide. Astrid is the top of the class and always serious, while Kai is more average and loves having fun. _

_Then Aedus is like me. Both of us are outcasts, and don't trust others easily. But we also are stronger than the world thinks we are, and can have fun when allowed to let loose._

Hiccup suddenly came back from la-la land, as a huge bang resounded through the room. A white light appeared in the center of the room again, and Spyrite reappeared.

"Spike! I'm back!" She yelled out toward the ceiling, before turning to the audience. "Alright, boys and girls. I have officially decided that now is a good time for mingling. Sooooo..."

With a flick of her wrist the barrier between the two halves of the room sparkled, and then dispersed.

"I've decided to remove the barrier! Now, the rules still stand: no attacking the other side. Are we understood?" Seeing the nods from both halves of the room, Spyrite smiled, and then took the same odd rectangle from her pocket.

"Alright! Listen up! Since most of you wouldn't go to the other side of the room if your lives depended on it, I've made a 'middle zone,' if you will, where a few pre-determined volunteers will sit."

With another flick of her wrist, said middle zone was created, with a red couch, a brown couch, a green couch, a blue couch, and a black couch.

"Snotlout! Verity! You two are on the red couch!" Trying (and failing) not to look nervous, Snotlout inched towards the red couch, while Verity glided over after a moment of hesitation.

"Mettina! Fishlegs! Brown couch!" Fishlegs let out a small squeak, while Mettina scurried over to sit on the end of the couch which was incidentally next to Verity's end of the red couch.

"Thorston twins! Lifa and Lielo! Big green couch!" Hooting with excitement, both pairs of twins ran towards the couch, jumping on.

"Kai and Astrid! Blue!" Kai grinned and ran to the couch, flipping over the back to land on it. Astrid walked toward the couch with confidence in her stride, sitting as far away from Kai as she could manage.

"And finally, will the Heir of Berk, the Fury of Night, and Ryu the Great please seat themselves on the black couch!" Without hesitation, the three walked to the couch, Ryu walking between the couple and holding their hands. Many of the people in the room thought they looked much like parents walking with their kid. Stoick and Gobber were just glad that the kid was between the dragon and Hiccup.

"Wonderful! Now, you all will have about a minute to talk before the movie resumes!" And with a bang, Spyrite was gone.

**OH MY GOSH! Was that as long as it felt? Cause to me that chapter felt like it took forever to write! Anywho, I hope you enjoy!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Alright! I've got another week off with no essays to write, which means time for updating! I'm gonna do some hardcore updating now.**

**Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO UnfortunatlyShattered! This chapter is for you!**

Chapter 5

For a moment in the room, there was silence, then:

"So you guys are dragons?" Tuffnut asked the Zippleback he and Ruffnut were sitting with.

"Yup! Me and Lielo are a Hideous Zippleback!" Lifa replied, grinning maniacally.

"So, you guys can just blow stuff up? Whenever you want?" Ruffnut asked, smiling at the dragon twins.

"Whenever-"

"Where ever-"

"And whatever we want!" They grinned in unison before Lielo let out a small puff of gas in front of him, and Lifa sparked it off, creating a small explosion in front of their couch.

"Woah," the Thorston twins breathed in unison, as the Zippleback twins grinned proudly.

"You know, for Vikings, you two are pretty okay." Lifa decided, holding out her hand to shake theirs. "I'm Lifa, and this is my bro Lielo. And together, we're the number one pranksters at Queen Maldua's nest!"

"I'm Tuffnut, and this is my stupid sister Ruffnut, and we're the best pranksters on Berk!" As the two pairs of twins grinned at each other, everyone in the room felt a shiver go down their spines at seeing the two pranking teams unite.

"Great. The two most explosively destructive groups in this archipelago have teamed up. We're all doomed," Mettina let her head sink into her hands, as Verity patted her on the back.

"There, there, Mettina. Just look on the bright side. Even on your worst day, you can outsmart them, and if they prank me, I'll just scorch them into charcoal!" Verity grinned at that last bit, before turning to the Viking teen next to her. "Hello there, I'm Verity, the most awesome dragon you'll ever meet."

"Please." And with that, Snotlout's competitive streak took control of his mouth. "You can't be that tough. I bet I could take you down with my hands tied behind my back."

"Excuse me?" Verity asked, trying to look offended but the look was ruined by the smirk on her face. "If I really tried, I could destroy you with only my tail!"

"I bet I could defeat you in thirty seconds!"

"I bet I could defeat you in ten seconds! Oh, and what did you say your name was again?"

"I'm Snotlout Jorgenson! The greatest warrior on Berk!"

"Well I'm the best fighter out of all the Monstrous Nightmares!"

"Wait, you're a Monstrous Nightmare? But you're a girl!" Verity's eyes narrowed at Snotlout's comment, and the young Viking gulped in fear as her hair caught fire. Just as she opened her mouth though, a voice interrupted from the brown couch.

"Come now, Verity. He's obviously just uneducated. After all, any highly populated species must have high amounts of both males and females." Mettina rolled her eyes as her friend calmed down, before turning to the large nervous boy next to her.

"My name is Mettina. I am a Gronckle, and am one of the most intellegent creatures you will ever converse with. From observation of the movie, I know that you're name is Fishlegs, and that you share a common interest in gathering intelligence." At this point, most of the Vikings couldn't even understand what was going on, but Fishlegs brightened at seeing a fellow intelligent being who actually wanted to speak with him.

"Yeah, my name's Fishlegs Ingerman. So you're a dragon? How does that work? I mean, you're much bigger as a dragon. Where does all the extra mass go when you become a human?"

"Well, no one's ever really found out for sure, but my personal favorite theory is an alternate pocket dimension which of course is offset by some other theories, like the ones that say its because of magic, or hyper-sonic cell transformation."

"Wow," Fishlegs breathed out, before preceding to engage Mettina in a conversation which contained very extensive vocabulary. Most of the people nearby just ignored them, taking their ignorance of the subject as a blessing. On the other hand, over on the blue couch the two inhabitants sat in a tense silence. Or, at least that's what Astrid was _trying_ to do. Kai was making that rather hard, doing his best to talk Astrid's ear off.

"So anyway, I'm Kai, Deadly Nadder. And you are?"

"..."

"You're right, stupid question. The movie already said your name was Astrid. Wow, I really can't think of a good nickname for you. You got any ideas?

"..."

"Ok, obviously not a talker... I like your skirt! I've always had a thing for spikes, but then again, what Nadder doesn't like spikes!"

"..."

"Are you gonna say something, 'cause this is getting awkward for me."

"..."

"Fine! I can do the silent treatment too!" Turning with a huff, Kai spent about ten seconds sitting with nervous energy coursing through his fidgeting body, as Astrid watched incredulously. Then the ten seconds were up.

"Ugh! Fine, you win. I can't do the silent treatment. But you're no fun to talk to, so I'm gonna just ignore you, and go bother Aedus." And with that, he turned to lean over the couch arm to look at Aedus, who was just sitting with Hiccup comfortably, neither feeling any need to do anything other than hold hands.

"Hey, Aedus! Do you want to talk to your bestest buddy Kai?"

"No."

"You stink." Flopping back onto the blue couch, Kai threw his hands to the sky and yelled, "DOESN'T ANYBODY WANT TO TALK TO ME?!"

"No." Every ring dragon replied in unison, causing the Deadly Nadder to pout and everyone else to laugh.

"Alright everyone." A voice suddenly called down from the ceiling causing most of the room to jump. "Time to resume the movie."

**This was a short chapter, but I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway! Next time we get to the big boys, slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Chapter. But which chapter will it be? (No, it's not going to be you Tuffnut, and your fake birthmark doesn't prove anything!)**

**Anywho, see you all next time! Feed Spike!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Well, time to continue with the movie! Hope everyone enjoys this! Also, many people have been asking if I would have Aedus and Hiccup do "For the Dancing and the Dreaming." I'd appreciate those people looking very carefully at the first chapter of the story, or 'The Prequel.' Think about what Aedus says after they dance. Plus, they aren't doing the exact same dance. It will be a little different. ;)**

**Chapter is dedicated to Porcelain and Frankenteen, for inspiring me to finish this chapter! Thank them for this update!**

Chapter 6

**Hiccup appeared on screen, lifting up a bola weight in her hand and weighing it for a moment. She's back at the clearing in the forest where she had first encountered the Night Fury.**

"Nooooooooo," Stoick groaned, seeing his daughter going back to the place where she had almost died.

**"So why didn't you?" She questions, dropping the bola and walking in the direction she had seen the Night Fury fly off. She drops into a rocky crevice, walking through to find a beautiful sunlit cove, with birds song ringing through the air.**

_Home. _Aedus and Hiccup thought, squeezing each other's hands for a moment.

**"Well, this was stupid," Hiccup sighs, seeing no evidence that the Night Fury had remained in this part of the forest.**

"Of course it was stupid. Dragons wouldn't stick around in the place they were almost killed in." Astrid told Hiccup in the same cold emotionless tone she always used, the brunette wincing at the reminder she had almost killed Aedus.

"Well, I think that Hiccup is brilliant!" Kai declared loudly. "I've forgiven her for trying to kill Aedus, and she's forgiven me for trying to kill you guys! So stop being such a meanie!"

A lot of the people in the room sweatdropped, as Kai's wise and serious moment was ruined with the use of the word 'meanie.'

**Then she notices a few black scales littering the ground near her.**

"You were saying?" Kai smirked, looking over at Astrid, who decided she _really _didn't like the Nadder sitting next to her.

"Just because she found a few scales doesn't mean that the Night Fury is still there!" Astrid hissed out, as the smarter people in the room shook their heads. After all, Hiccup was obviously familiar with the black dragon, so this must have been where they met.

**Crouching to pick it up, she examines it for a moment.**

**Suddenly a black blur screeches past Hiccup.**

"HA! I told you so!" Kai jumped up to a standing position on the couch, pointing at Astrid with a wild grin on his face. Said girl just ignored him, scowling.

**She recoils for a moment, before watching the dark beast struggle to climb the cove walls. It scrambles for a grip on the rocks for a few seconds, before falling and twisting in midair to glide over the lake to land awkwardly.**

"Why's Aedus flying funny?" A young Nadder child voices aloud what many of the dragons are thinking. The ring dragons wince, as they realize that although the other dragons knew Hiccup had shot Aedus down, they didn't exactly know about his... injury.

The Vikings looked over at the dragons curiously. The Night Fury was flying oddly? Hiccup winced, glancing over at Aedus. He sat stiffly, and she could feel his hand squeezing hers.

"Aedus?" Firan asked cautiously.

"It's alright!" As he turned to face the dragons, a smile could be seen on his face, with only Hiccup noticing how forced it was. "Just keep watching the movie. It'll be explained soon, I think."

**Hiccup pants in surprise and astonishment for a few more seconds, watching as the dragon tried again to unsuccessfully climb the cliff walls before landing again. Then, realizing the opportunity she has here, Hiccup scrambles down the rocky path, grabbing her journal, and quickly sketching down the Night Fury as it moved around on the ground.**

"Wait, you can draw?!" Tuffnut exclaimed, watching the Night Fury take shape on the journal pages. A few other Vikings nodded. While drawing wasn't a very useful skill, it was certainly a rare one, and important when it came to things like cartography and painting crests on shields and sails.

"Yeah?" Hiccup's eyebrow raised as she answered the question, confused. So what? She could draw, but so could Bucket. It was hardly a unique or even necessary skill. Besides, compared to some of the things they were about to find out, drawing wasn't very important in the long run.

Bucket looked over the drawing with an appraising eye. As the only other artist on Berk, it was important to pass on skills to the next generation. And from what he could see, the heiress certainly had some talent.

**"Why don't you just, fly away?" Hiccup wonders out loud, watching the large black beast as it shoots plasma at the ground in anger. Then, seeing what she missed, Hiccup rubs out the left tailfin, looking up again to confirm her drawing's accuracy.**

"Oh, Aedus..." Fortuna looked at him with a pitying eye, as many dragons dipped their heads to mourn the passing of their friends' flight. "Why didn't you say anything about your tail?"

He turned, looking at them with a smile, surpirsing many. "If I had told you, would it really have changed anything? Besides," he turned to Hiccup, bringing the hand he was holding up to his lips to brush a chaste kiss over it. "I gained more than I lost."

The Vikings carefully observed this interaction. Rather than rushing in and shouting in joy at their enemies defeat, they were beginning to observe first. They were learning not to judge a book by its cover.

**Then she returned to watching the Night Fury's flying attempts. The dragon landed hard by the edge of the lake, causing a fish to splash away from the surface. Padding over to the water carefully, the dragon suddenly lunges forward, trying in vain to catch a fish, but the cods dart off. The dragon lowers its head, looking weakened.**

Hiccup squeezed Aedus's hand, and he squeezed back. No words were necessary.

**Seeing the fearsome beast unable to even catch its food, and knowing it was her fault, Hiccup slumped down guiltily, her fingers relaxing. She tries to grab the charcoal pencil as it slipped from her grasp, but it rolled off the cliff, hitting the ground with a clinking sound that caught the Night Fury's attention.**

Gobber can't help but worry about his apprentice, despite the obvious fact that she had survived the encounter. After all, friendly though it may seem now, that was a _Night Fury_. The most dangerous dragon on Berk.

**The dragon raised his head up to see Hiccup on the cliff, and both of them froze as green gazes locked together. Time froze for a moment, before Hiccup backed up, scrambling back the way she came as the dragon watched her go.**

"What were you thinking during that?" Hiccup murmured to Aedus under her breath, and the dragon pursed his lips for a moment, thinking.

"At that time, I believe my thoughts were along the lines of, 'It's that odd human again. Why does she keep coming back alone?' I was confused, because from what I had observed of you humans, you tended to go around in groups with lots of weapons. You were different. It... intrigued me."

**The screen shows the Great Hall. A storm is brewing outside, while inside, the teens sit eating, as Gobber quizzes them about their first day of training.**

**"Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" The door opens slightly as Hiccup slips in unnoticed, soaked to the bone from the rain.**

**"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble," Astrid answered immediately, paying no attention to the eye rolling from the rest of the group.**

"As if!" Kai scoffed, drawing everyone's attention away from the screen. "We all saw it, Astrid. The somersault dive isn't what threw you off, the problem was that you went across Hiccup to the right when it would have been much simpler to dive left, so that you could use the wall to your advantage. Instead, you blocked Hiccup's view and drew away her attention so that she didn't see the lava slug aimed at her. Duh."

Most could only stare in bewilderment at the Nadder, as he had just told off _Astrid Hofferson_. And in an extremely nonchalant way.

For her part, the shield maiden was shocked. No one had ever offered anything but praise to her, but here was this dragon, not only telling her off in a constructive way, but defending Hiccup's performance in the ring while at it.

Kai looked over to see his couch-mate staring at him in shock.

"Look, I know I'm handsome, but there's no need to stare," he teased her, grinning and waggling his eyebrows. The blonde narrowed her eyes, turning away and scowling at the screen.

**"Yeah, we noticed," Ruffnut sarcastically pitched in, only for Snotlout to jump to his crush's defense.**

**"No, no, you were great! That was so 'Astrid'." Said girl just rolled her eyes and took a long drink from her cup.**

"Odin's Beard, you are such a butt kisser." Verity rolled her eyes at Snotlout, who bristled in indignation.

"I do not! I was just complimenting her!"

Verity pursed her lips, looking over Snotlout carefully. After an uncomfortable moment for all who were watching them, she sighed, a few wisps of smoke intermingled with her breath.

"Listen very carefully, because I will only say this once. The blonde maiden sees you as worthless." Snotlout went to protest, but the Nightmare held a hand up. "No, let me speak. Until you are able to prove to her through actions that you are the man you say you are, she will see you as you are. An arrogant bragging boy."

With her piece said, Verity turned back to the screen, head held high, looking every bit the proud dragon she was. Snotlout was quiet, staring at her seeming to think over her words.

**"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves." Gobber lectures the students, as Hiccup approaches the table. Snotlout immediately scooted over on the bench, preventing the brunette from sitting down. Hiccup just grabbed a plate of fish and cup of water, walking over to the next table, used to this happening.**

"That was really rude," Verity announced, glaring at the short bruntte sitting next to her. Snotlout was quiet, still thinking over the dragon's words.

**"Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Gobber asked, trying to get the girl involved in the conversation.**

**"Uh, she showed up?" Ruffnut grinned.**

**"She didn't get eaten?" Tuffnut pitched in. Hiccup just rolls her eyes, picking at her food.**

A fireball exploded over the twins heads, and they looked over to see most of the dragons glaring at them.

**"She's never where she should be," Astrid glares at the girl, as Gobber sighs in relief at finally getting the correct answer.**

"Oh really?" Kai asked the shield-maiden. "So then would you mind explaining where exactly Hiccup should have been so that she doesn't make that mistake again, instead of saying a vague sentence that could mean anything!"

Astrid glared at the Nadder sitting next to her. He was staring at her with fine eyebrows arched over eyes of molten gold.

**"Thank you, Astrid. You need to live and breathe this stuff," Gobber strides to the head of the table throwing a thick leather bound book down in front of the teens. "The dragon manual. Everything we know, about every dragon we know of."**

**Thunder rumbles, and Gobber looks at the ceiling for a moment.**

**"No attacks tonight. Study up."**

"Really? You just hear a storm, and assume that we are unable to attack due to it?" Mettina asks Gobber in a disbelieveing voice. Seeing the blacksmith nod, the Gronckle groans and drops her head into her hands muttering under her breath about "_uneducated thick-headed humans."_

Fishlegs shifted uncomfortably. He felt sort of bad, and was also nervous. Mettina was the first person to relate to him on an intellectual level; he didn't want her to hate him.

**The blacksmith walked off, leaving the teens alone. Tuffnut jerks up, the dagger he was balancing falling down as what Gobber said sinks in.**

**"Wait, you mean read?"**

**"While we're still alive?" His twin adds, both looking disgusted.**

Many of the dragons just looked at the Zippleback twins, who both avoided everyone's gazes resolutely, thinking of a time when they had said something extremely similar.

**"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout snapped, his hands angrily conveying his feelings about needing to read.**

"Perhaps to extend your understandably limited vocabulary?" Mettina suggested slyly, lips curling upwards into a smirk.

"Hey! That sounded like an insult!" Snotlout shouted at the Gronckle, causing many to roll their eyes at him.

**"Oh! I've read it, like, seven times! There's this water dragon, that sprays boiling water at your face!"**

"Yeah! That would be us Scauldrons!" A voiced echoed from the back of the room. The Vikings all craned their necks to see a dark-skinned boy, with pale blue hair jumping up and down cheering for his species.

**"And, and there's this other one, that buries itself for like a week-"**

"That would be us Whispering Deaths," a quiet voice floated up, drawing attention to a small girl in the middle of the dragons, with white skin and pale eyes.

**"Yeah!" Tuffnut snapped his hand close, Fishlegs' mouth mimicking it. "That sounds great. Now, there was a chance I was gonna read that-"**

**"But, now?" Ruffnut adds, her face the picture of monotonous boredom.**

**"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout stands from the table to leave, Tuffnut and Ruffnut following his lead, while Fishlegs trails behind the three, still spouting out information.**

**"T-There's this other one, that has these spines, like trees-" Their voices fade into the background as Hiccup walks over to Astrid, a hesitant, but hopeful look on her face..**

**"So I guess we'll share-"**

**"Read it." The blonde stands, striding over to the exit, leaving behind the brunette wincing down at the book.**

**"Ah, all mine, then. Wow. So, ah, okay, I'll see you-" A door slamming echoes across the Hall. Hiccup looks up, finding herself alone once more. "-tomorrow."**

"Its fine, Hiccup." Aedus said, now acting far less dramatic now that his traumatic memories had passed, and he had a handle on his emotions. "Who needs show-off blondes when you've got a family of dragons!"

Hiccup smiled over at Aedus, who was acting more like his usual self now.

"Yeah."

**A few hours later, the Hall is dark and empty, but Hiccup is shown carrying a small candle towards the table from earlier. She sits down, opening the dragon manual.**

**"Dragon classifications; Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class."**

"Oh! Oh! Nee-chan! What Class am I in!" Ryu asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on the couch.

"Terrible Terrors are in the Stoker Class. That means that your most prominent feature is your use of fire."

**She flips a few pages, finding a page depicting a large dragon with a giant mouth lined in teeth.**

"Yeah! Thunderdrums for the win!" A deep voice boomed across the room. Its owner stood proudly among a group of Thunderdrums, all with one distinguishing feature; all had un-hingeable jaws.

**"Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."**

"Yo, that's just cause you Vikings can't handle the music." A Thunderdrum with a pink Mohawk said, bumping fists with another next to him.

**She flips a few pages over, the book now showing a thin dragon with large wings.**

Everyone paused, waiting for a Timberjack to announce their presence the same way the other dragons had. But all that happened was a girl with long brown hair held up a peace sign, then went back to sitting silently.

**"Timberjack. This gigiantic creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."**

**More pages are flipped, faster with Hiccup's increasing nervousness. The book now shows a dragon with a large head, and thin but long neck. "Scauldron. Sprays scaulding water at it's victims. Extremely dangerous-"**

**Hiccup turns, crying out as a particularly loud boom of thunder, scares her. Seeing no one but her in the hall, she gathers herself, then turns back to the book.**

"Wow. That was really creepy." A random Viking said, everyone else nodding in agreement.

**"Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."**

"WHAT!" Fortuna yelled in outrage, many around her jumping at her sudden yell. "So what that book is saying is that you are told to murder our babies!" Many of the Vikings shrunk down in slight shame, whereas most just looked away from the rampaging mother, who was now being calmed by her daughter.

**She begins flipping the book faster, only scanning each page as it goes by.**

**"Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Boneknapper. Whispering Death." The dragons on the pages begin to look as though they are alive, Hiccup's increasing anxiety practically palpable in the air.**

**"Burns it's victims, buries it's victims, chokes it's victims, turns it's victims inside out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous. Kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight."**

"So violent…" Hiccup sighed, shaking her head at the screen.

**Hiccup's rapid flipping comes to a stop, as she lands on a page bare of any illustrations.**

**"Night Fury. Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself."**

"Wow. 'Unholy offspring' huh? I'll have you know that if any dragon is the offspring of lightening, it's the Skrills. I can't really dispute with the death thing though." Aedus muttered thoughtfully. Hiccup rolled her eyes; she knew he was intentionally scaring the Vikings.

**"Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: hide, and pray it does not find you." **

"I doubt that would work. I am _excellent_ at hide and seek." Aedus said, winking at Hiccup, whose eyes widened in embarrassment when she realized what he meant.

**Hiccup looks up for a moment, before grabbing her journal from her vest, and putting it on top of the book. It is opened up to the page she drew the Night Fury on; the only known drawing of one in Berk's history.**

**So I don't really have any excuse, but I will have you know I would have uploaded this chapter a week ago when school ended for me if my Mom hadn't grounded me from electronics. But anyway, now that its summer, I'm gonna be able to start focusing on writing and completely finish this story! Warning though; I'm heading to an electronic free sleep-away camp for three weeks starting tomorrow. But after that, I will continue to write!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Ships appear, rocking on the waves; each adorned with a symbol of Berk. Stoick hovers over the familiar nautical map, looking at an uncharted corner, covered with swirling illustrations of dragons and mist.**

**"I can almost smell them. They're close." A wall of fog is shown, with pillars of rock stabbing upwards to be seen near the top.**

"Wow." Fishlegs gaped at the screen. "So that's the dragon territory then? How is the fog staying in such a completely straight sheet like that? At the very least there should be some excess willowing into the air."

"It's maintained by what Vikings categorize as a Smothering Smokebreath. Instead of fire, they're able to produce smoke which they can then control and keep in any condition that suits them. Or maybe all of you didn't notice the suspicious cloud of fog on the ceiling?" Mettina pointed upwards, where lo and behold, an extremely circular cloud was hovering.

"Oh."

**"Steady." Each of the Vikings on board the ships are staring at the fog, faces grim with anticipation. Stoick stares for another moment, before giving the command.**

**"Take us in."**

**"Hard to port!" The skipper immediately calls to the boats behind, pushing his weight against the rudder. Each of the other skippers echoes him, passing the message along, as Stoick strides to the bow of the ship.**

**"For Helheim's Gate." Stoick declares solemnly as the ships sink into the mist, fading from view. Only for the silhouette of a Monstrous Nightmare to appear moments later, outlined by fire.**

"And there are the sentries…"

**"Hey, you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies." Hiccup flails her weapon filled hands about as she speaks. "Is there another book, or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet-AH!"**

"A little Night Fury pamphlet?" Aedus asked incredulously, looking down at his girlfriend, who just puffed her cheeks up and crossed her arms stubbornly. "One of these days I'll figure out where you get this stuff."

**She screams suddenly, as a blast of fire fries her axe as she's holding it up. She looks around wildly, before seeing a blue Deadly Nadder hop down into the corridor in front of her.**

"Yay! Time for tag!" Kai clapped his hands together, as Astrid looked over with an expression that seemed to question his sanity.

_Haha! I _love_ being the 'insane' one!_ Kai thought gleefully, knowing that his behavior was ticking off Astrid.

**"Focus, Hiccup! You're not even trying!"**

**The Deadly Nadder hopped back up onto the top of the wall, cocking its head one way and another to look for more victims.**

**"Today, is all about attack." Gobber continued leisurely as flames were sent down at the teens. "Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter."**

"Pfft. As if. Nadders are some of the fastest dragons you can find. You'd need some pretty serious speed to even think of taking us on that way." Kai rolled his eyes, waving his hand around as if to emphasize his point.

**The Nadder spots Fishlegs' hiding behind a wall. He whips his tail of spikes, the darts thudding into Fishlegs' shield as he runs and screams.**

**"I'm REALLY beginning to question your teaching methods!"**

"Yeah, if you're gonna teach someone something, give them theory first, then try to put the theory into practice. Just practice without the theory is useless," Mettina sniffed.

**"Look for its' blind spot. Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike."**

"Except for Zipplebacks. Two heads means all directions are covered."

**Ruff and Tuff rush in, diving and rolling up to the Nadder's nose. The Nadder sniffs the air - it can't see them. However, the twins soon realize that they are both inhabiting the same space.**

**"Do you ever bathe?" Ruffnut face screws up as she sniffs, and Tuffnut becomes offended.**

**"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot!"**

**"How about I give you one!"**

"Do you two ever not argue? I mean there's a dragon literally standing in front of you, and you're discussing whether or not you've bathed?" A random dragon asked incredulously.

The twins just shrugged.

**They push against one another, unaware of the Nadder cocking its head to search for the source of the racket; at least until it spits fire at them.**

**"Blind spot? Yes. Deaf spot? Not so much."**

The audience laughed. If there was one thing they could agree on, it was that sassy Gobber was a hilarious Gobber.

**Hiccup wanders up to Gobber, while the others dart past.**

**"Hey, so how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"**

"Wow Hiccup. Figuring out ways to 'sneak up on me'? There are more subtle ways for you to get my attention." Aedus joked, waggling his eyebrows up and down as he teasingly leered at his girlfriend, who just pouted while shoving him.

**"None one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!"**

**"I know, I know, but hypothetically..."**

**"Hiccup!" Astrid whisper yells at her, the lanky girl finally taking notice of the other teens, who gesture for her to get down.**

**Only moments later, the Nadder pokes its head around the wall, stepping into an adjacent corridor. Astrid takes a deep breath, almost as if she steeling herself, before silently rolling across the intersection. Snotlout follows, however as Hiccup moves to do the same maneuver, her shield pulls her back to the ground mid-roll with a clank. Catching the attention of the Nadder.**

Hiccup winces at the sight of that particular failure.

**Taking advantage of its distraction with Hiccup, Astrid rears back to strike. However, Snotlout sweeps her to the side, cocking back his axe arrogantly.**

**"Watch out babe. I'll take care of this."**

**He misses.**

"Dude," Kai winces, a reaction shared by many, at seeing just how badly Snotlout had messed that one up. "Tip for the future; if a warrior has a shot, don't mess it up. Trust that they'll get it, and don't assume you can do better."

"And don't act so blatantly arrogant!" Verity screeched, whacking Snotlout on the head. "You threw that axe without even taking aim!"

**The Nadder looks back, half smug and half confused, as if wondering what this Viking was trying to do. Realizing that he had failed horribly, Snotlout tried to save the rest of his dignity.**

**"The sun was in my eyes, Astrid. What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now!"**

Slowly, all the heads in the room turned to Snotlout, whose eyes had widened in obvious embarrassment, as even he understood just how stupid what he said was. Everyone turned back to the screen, all of them too dumbfounded to even think of commenting.

**They both run off down the corridor, before splitting up, the Nadder tearing off after Astrid, knocking down the walls in its pursuit. Cut to Hiccup, who is standing over by Gobber again, oblivious to the ruckus occurring behind her.**

**"They probably take the daytime off. You know, like a cat. Has anyone ever seen one napping?"**

**"Hiccup!" Gobber yells, and the girl spins, only to see Astrid jumping off of the falling wall, heading straight for her.**

**"-Hiccup!" Astrid comes flying through the dust and crash-lands on top of her, laying them out in a limb-tangled mess.**

**"Oooh! Love on the battlefield!" Tuffnut teases.**

"Nope." Aedus declared, encasing his arms tighter around Hiccup's waist and firmly planting his head on her shoulder. "Mine."

Stoick and Gobber both twitched slightly at this, but at this point they both knew better than to argue with the dragon safely tucked behind the barrier.

**"She could do better." His twin responds, as the two tangled girls finally realized their position, and Astrid began forcefully pulling herself out. As the blonde girl stood up, free, the sound of the Nadder beginning to charge drew her attention. Her eyes widening in alarm, she grabbed her axes' handle, only to realize it was stuck in the shield attached to Hiccup's arm. Panicking, she began tugging with more and more fervor, while Hiccup tried to help. **

**"Just... let me... why don't you…"**

**Putting her foot on Hiccup's face to gain leverage, finally the shield strap broke, and Astrid swung both the shield and axe at the Nadder, the impact of it breaking the shield into pieces. The Nadder spun around yelping in pain, as it stumbled away to lick it's wounds.**

"…Sorry," Astrid grumbled, turned her head away from Kai's beaming face.

**"Well done, Astrid." Gobber hobbles off to wrestle the Nadder back into his cell.**

** Hiccup stumbles to her feet, only for a panting Astrid to turn on her, her glare causing the smaller girl to automatically shrink.**

**"Is this some kind of a joke to you? Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on."**

Aedus moved one of his arms from Hiccup's waist so he could grab her hand and squeeze it, silently conveying his support to her. He knew this was one of her biggest problems. Whether to side with her village, or with her dragon friends.

**She grabbed her axe and stomped off, the other recruits following after her. Hiccup watches, stung, but with another emotion creeping across her face as well. Contemplation.**

**Okay. So. I've really been jumping around a lot of fandoms recently, but I am moving back towards this one, so I'll definitely be finishing this story soon. After that, if I'm willing to open that can of beans, I might do a re-write, or just write a normal version of this, rather than just a watching-the-movie one. But I digress, that will come after I finish this.**


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